Archaeological evidence and oral tradition tell us that people were living in the area around present-day Newton and Natick as many as 11,000 years ago. By the 1600s, many thousands of Native people lived along the coast of New England. Though they lived in different nations, bands, and villages, many spoke closely-linked Algonquian languages. They were the ancestors of the Massachusett, Nipmuc, and Wampanoag people who continue to live across New England and beyond.
Daily Life on This Land
Before colonization, Native people moved seasonally from the coast inland, and back again, to take advantage of natural resources. Most women stayed in villages to plant and harvest, gather berries and nuts, collect shellfish, prepare foods, and look after children. Men traveled for days at a time to hunt, fish, and trade with neighboring Indigenous nations and with Europeans who had set up trading outposts beginning in the 16th century.
“...And when the Two Legged arrived, they knew that All Are Related and had much to learn from all the Living Things around them. And so, our journey of Being Human is connected to all Life…”
-Larry Spotted Crow Mann, Nipmuc Creation Story, Drumming and Dreaming, 2017
Women and men worked together to build temporary homes called wetus, which provided shelter for extended-family households. Children had responsibilities, too, such as keeping birds away from the planting fields.
Right: Recreation of a wetu at the Fruitlands Museum (Harvard, MA), on Nipmuc land. Image courtesy of Historic Newton.
“Often thought of as wanderers, they were instead careful planners and good stewards of the land upon which they lived.”
—Nipmuc Tribal Council
Belonging
Families in Native villages believed they belonged to the land on which they built their homes. In turn, the crops that people harvested near their homes belonged to them. Land “ownership” shifted with each season as villagers moved to different sites. Every few years, whole villages moved to avoid soil exhaustion. Waterways such as the Quinobequin (renamed the Charles River by the English) provided villagers with fresh water, fish, and transportation.
Unlike the English, who named land after themselves, Native people took their names from the land. For example, the word Nipmuc means “fresh water.” In an Indigenous worldview, land and people are inseparable parts of a whole. As Elizabeth Solomon of the Massachusett has said:
“We do not live in this place; we are of this place.”
Leadership
Leaders of Algonquian-speaking communities were called sachems. They relied on the counsel of respected advisors and regularly distributed gifts among their people. In return, their followers offered tributes such as freshly harvested vegetables. Sachems remained leaders only so long as their followers trusted their ability to guide and protect. The sons, and sometimes daughters, of sachems could inherit their leadership roles.
“Their sachems have not their men in such subjection, but that very frequently their men will leave them upon distaste or harsh dealing, and go and live under other sachems that can protect them.”
—Daniel Gookin, Historical Collections, 1674
Where Are the Women in This Story?
Algonquian communities were matriarchal. However, English colonists displaced women from positions of responsibility and power. Oral tradition carries forward some stories of women’s leadership in their communities, but few written records from the 1600s document their lives.
Header Image: Quinobequin (Charles River), Spring 2020. Image courtesy of the Natick Historical Society.