Native Waters; Native Lands

Starts May 5, 2023

2023 marks the 400 years since English colonizers first settled on the land that is now called Gloucester. To mark this anniversary, the Cape Ann Museum is coordinating Native Waters; Native Lands, a collaborative partnership between the Museum, the Gloucester 400+ Anniversary Committee, Discover Gloucester, the City of Gloucester, and SmokeSygnals, a Wampanoag curatorial firm. With support from the local partners, SmokeSygnals created a wetu (traditional structure) at the Cape Ann Museum Green in May 2023 and will create a mush8n (traditional canoe) at Stage Fort Park for A Celebration of Place: The Cultural Heritage Festival presented by the Gloucester 400+ Anniversary Committee on October 7 and 8, 2023.

Together, the wetu and mush8n highlight how Native communities live, travel, and fish in this region both historically and today. Following the festival, they will be displayed together at CAM Green in 2024 and 2025 to continue the conversation about Native Waters; Native Lands in Gloucester. Learn more about the wetu at CAM Green.

This project is funded in part by the Essex County Community Foundation’s Creative County Initiative.