The “First Light Tile Project” is inspired by the Wampanoag people, who call themselves the People of the First Light. The name reflects their location on the eastern seaboard, where the sun first rises. This season the Highland House Museum will install a new permanent exhibition, Wampanoag Nation: People of the First Light, examining the history and culture of the Indigenous people who have lived on the Cape for more than 12,000 years.

Artists and community members have painted handcrafted ceramic tiles that express personal reflections on the history and culture of the Wampanoag people. The tiles have been donated by the participants and installed in the lobby of the Highland House Museum. All of the tiles will be available for sale at a silent auction fundraiser to benefit the Truro Historical Society. The auction will begin on July 23, 2021 at 4 PM and end on August 6, 2021 at 6 PM.

You can view the auction HERE
The auction is now “live”; bid now on your favorite(s)!

The “First Light Tile Project” is sponsored by Jobi Pottery. Thank you, Susan Kurtzman, for creating this inspiring project!

In his talk, ‘The Birdmen of Truro,’ novelist Paul Kemprecos discusses inspiration for his new book, Killing Icarus. Set largely in Truro, Kemprecos’s suspense-mystery weaves a tale involving German glider experts, an Edward Hopper sketch, and a World War II secret. If you’re a flight aficionado or a Hopper enthusiast, you won’t want to miss this program!

Three Sisters Garden 2021

In 2020, the Truro Historical Society planted a Three Sisters Garden on the lawn of the Cobb Archive, with the help of Blue Flax Landscaping and owner, Theresa Sprague. This year, Blue Flax again helped us prepare the garden and Longnook Meadows Farm donated seedlings which will grow throughout the summer to produce the three sisters: corn, beans and squash.

For many Native American communities, the three sisters represent the most important crops. When planted together, the Three Sisters, work together to help one another thrive and survive. This garden was planted in tribute to the Wampanoag peoples, including the Pamets of Truro, who were the original natives of the land we now call Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

The Truro Historical Society (THS) supports the peaceful Black Lives Matter movement for racial justice that is taking place in the United States and around the world. “Liberty and justice for all” means justice for Black and Indigenous populations, and for all people of color.

Museums and archives are not neutral spaces. Because we interpret history, we have the responsibility of presenting the past as fully and accurately as possible, including painful and uncomfortable aspects. The past feeds into the present, and when a community actively engages with its past, it can use its understanding to make a better society.

Truro was founded on land that had been inhabited by Native People for thousands of years, but these people were displaced by English settlers. There were enslaved people and indentured laborers enduring near-slavery conditions in Truro. In 1754, the town’s first minister, Reverend John Avery, bequeathed to his children three African-American enslaved men and “my Indian Girl Sarah.”

After reflecting on the “settler privilege” that most of us enjoy, the THS decided in late 2019 to mark the 400^thanniversary of the Pilgrims’ arrival with a decolonial exhibition celebrating Truro’s first inhabitants, the Wampanoag Nation, from its origins to today. During the postponement caused by the coronavirus, the THS will continue to consult with Indigenous scholars and community members. We will increase our commitment to diversity and inclusion. As a token of our commitment, the THS wishes to share the Land Acknowledgment we have prepared in consultation with members of the Wampanoag Nation. This statement will stand at the entrance to the Highland House Museum’s permanent exhibition about the Paomet and the Wampanoag peoples.

Land Acknowledgment

The Highland House Museum stands on the traditional homeland of the Paomet Tribe, members of the Wampanoag Nation, who have inhabited Cape Cod for more than 12,000 years and who knew this part of Truro as Tashmuit. The Truro Historical Society acknowledges the displacement, suffering, and forced assimilation of the Wampanoag and other Native Peoples caused by European contact and colonization. We honor the struggles of the Wampanoag, People of the First Light, and support their resilience, and we ask museum visitors to reflect on our shared responsibility to maintain social justice.