TRURO — Maushop, the giant in Wampanoag folklore, making an offering of a pipe to the rising sun as he sits atop High Head may soon reappear overlooking land where the Paomet lived for 12,000 years before the Pilgrims arrived.

A sculpture of the giant is one of four concepts developed by a Wampanoag design team to honor the Paomet people with monuments planned for four publicly owned locations in Truro in the years ahead.

The Truro Historical Commission and Historical Society are co-directors of the effort, which began four years ago with Highland House Museum exhibitions, its Three Sisters Garden, and construction of a traditional wetu in June 2023.

The plans for the proposed memorials were unveiled at a public forum held at the Truro Meeting House on Aug. 25. Funding from the Community Preservation program supported the study that shaped the designs. The planners say they’ll ask for further CPA and other grants to build the monuments.

At the meeting, historical commission member Chuck Steinman identified four sites selected for memorials: a town-owned open area in Pamet Park bordering the Pamet River and adjacent to the Farmers’ Market; Corn Hill between the beach parking area and an existing Pilgrim monument; High Head on a prominent escarpment adjacent to an existing bench; and the park in Pond Village.

The memorials will be designed and executed by the Wampanoag community, said Steven Peters during his presentation at the public forum.

One of four members of the memorial design team contracted with by the town groups, Peters specializes in indigenous exhibits, art, and film for the Native-owned production company SmokeSygnals.

Fellow design team members are the writer and historian Linda Coombs, who is a member of the Aquinnah Wampanoag tribe — she lives in Mashpee and directs the team; Robert Peters, a Mashpee Wampanoag artist and writer; and NaDazia Bolling, an Aquinnah Wampanoag and director of the Aquinnah Cultural Center.

The Paomet village on the Outer Cape was part of the Wampanoag confederation, a network of 69 villages that stretched from the Merrimac River in the Gloucester area down to Narragansett Bay and out to Cape Cod and the islands.

Combs reviewed the history of the years just before the arrival of the Separatists (also called the Pilgrims). “Between 1616 and 1619, we were hit with a devastating plague that was of European origin that killed 75 to 90 percent of the population,” Coombs said. “We lost entire villages.”

After the plague spread through Plymouth, it moved inland, sparing Cape Cod. Only three Wampanoag tribes remain, said the historian: the Mashpee Wampanoag, the Aquinnah Wampanoag on Martha’s Vineyard, and the Herring Pond Wampanoag in south Plymouth and Bourne.

“Since we are coming from a people that have such greatly reduced numbers from what we used to have, I’m very grateful to have such a project as this that remembers our ancestors,” Coombs said.

The memorials were designed based on input from the Wampanoag community, said Peters before presenting the draft proposals at the forum.

Peters said that the fact that the monuments reflect a process that asked “What does the Wampanoag community want to share? Where do they want to share it and how?” was essential. “That’s the beauty of what we’re doing,” Peters said.

 

A Wetu in Pamet Park

The committee wanted the first memorial to be a mix of contemporary and traditional elements, Peters said. The design calls for an open section of a traditional wetu featuring a frame of Eastern white cedar. A contemporary graphic produced by a Wampanoag artist and transferred to material similar to a boat sail would cover the lower half of the frame. A stone monument featuring an etching of a village scene and some narrative would stand at the center, while a wraparound bench of composite wood would provide seating.

“So, taking a traditional structure like a wetu and then doing something completely outside what you would consider to be a covering on it,” Peters said of the proposed design. “You already have a museum. I think we have opportunities here to push people to see us as we are today, what happened in the past, and how it shaped our communities that we live in now.”

 

A White Pine at Corn Hill

A garden path monument would sit between the parking area and the Corn Hill monument to the Pilgrims and its adjacent flagpole. The concept calls for a circle divided into four quadrants with a white pine tree at the center.

“We put a white pine because the white pine is our ancestor,” Coombs said. “We have ancient stories that tell us that the creator made us from white pine.”

Each quadrant would include one tree surrounded by indigenous plants such as bayberry, beach plum, and beach pea, to be selected by a horticulturalist from the Wampanoag community. Accessible stone pathways, three feet wide, would divide the quadrants in a way similar to the style of a medicine wheel. Signs located at the beginning of the path and in each of the quadrants would provide a narrative about the Paomet.

 

A Giant at High Head

According to Wampanoag folklore, the giant Maushop dragged his foot through Nantucket Sound, creating the separation between Noepe, the Wampanoag name for Martha’s Vineyard, and Cape Cod. “We wanted it to be big, big, big,” Peters said of Maushop’s likeness. “You would be able to see it as you’re driving along Route 6.”

Artist Robert Peters provided an illustration of how the 16-foot rendering could look. Steven Peters said solar-powered floodlights could illuminate the monument at night. He envisions partnering with a local monument company that works in cement and fiberglass. “We’re giving thought to weight, durability, and something that can be put together in sections,” he said. Wampanoag artists would be involved, he added. “We don’t want to put something out there that doesn’t feel like us.”

 

A Memorial at Village Pond

The Pond Village Association requested the inclusion of a small memorial at Village Pond. Peters said the memorial would take the form of signage that “can give people a sense into what the land was, the communities were that were here, and where we are today.”

Helen McNeil-Ashton, vice president of collections at the historical society’s Highland House Museum, noted that Truro was the second place in America where the Pilgrims set foot in 1620. Here, they stole corn supplies that the Paomet had stored for the next growing season. Without it, the Pilgrims would probably have starved during their first winter, she said.

“Truro has the opportunity not only to make up for that first theft but to appreciate the contributions of the Paomet people and enrich our community and landscape with artworks and serene recreational spaces,” McNeil-Ashton said.