‘We’re still here’: In Shrewsbury, Nipmuc tribe seeks to reclaim, preserve artifacts

Far from mere reenactment, the Hassanamisco Nipmuc’s canoe project is part of a sweeping endeavor to preserve and reanimate the band’s heritage around Flint Pond and the nearby Lake Quinsigamond, which lies at the heart of its historic homeland in central New England, according to Cheryl Stedtler, a tribal council member.

Stedtler, 63, an educator in Belchertown, serves as the director of Project Mishoon, an archeological effort to find and preserve tribal artifacts in the area. The initiative was launched about 20 years ago, after three canoes that date back to the 1600s were found in Lake Quinsigamond.

That work dovetails with a renewed effort to document other tribal antiquities that have been found by lake neighbors over the years — and pass along the knowledge to future generations.

The tribe celebrated its most recent labors on June 8, when members rowed the completed mishoon across the waters of Lake Quinsigamond.

“I feel like we’re making progress in building relationships,” Stedtler said. “Strengthening the connection with our ancestors in a tangible way for the people in front of us, like our children, to be able to give them something [to] see or touch, is important for them.”

This particular connection to the past traces its origins to a 21st-century concern: eBay.

In June 2000, Stedtler was living in New Jersey and scrolling through the online auction website when a listing caught her eye. A diver who explored Quinsigamond had stumbled upon a mishoon submerged in about 30 feet of water.

The diver had hoped to recover the craft, but after those plans didn’t work out, he decided to auction off the location online, Stedtler said. Spotting a treasured object from her culture listed amid the trove of knick-knacks and hand-me-downs was upsetting but not surprising.

“This is a continual thing,” Stedtler said. “We’re always finding stone artifacts, baskets, documents that have our ancestor’s mark or signature on them being auctioned off on eBay. … It’s heartbreaking and frustrating.”

Ultimately, only Stedtler and one other person bid on the canoe’s location; she lost, and the winner, an antiques dealer, picked it up for $25, she said. She contacted the winner, who agreed the location belonged to the tribe and offered it to her, she said. But she wasn’t taking any chances.

“I gave him the $25 for it, because I wanted to make sure that it was a sealed deal,” Stedtler said.

After she secured the location, Stedtler’s next task was clear: finding the mishoon.

Stedtler went to Massachusetts and arranged to search that location with the help of state archeologists. Searches that year, and the next, turned up three canoes in the lake, each mishoon is now protected under the state law and their locations kept confidential.

The mishoon left in Lake Quinsigamond were likely placed there intentionally by their makers. Traditionally, mishoon used in the lake were hewn from trees near the shoreline. (The new mishoon crafted on Flint Pond was made from a white pine trunk from Hopkinton.)

To wait out the winter, a mishoon was weighed down with rocks and left completely submerged in water deep enough to not freeze, protected until the return of warm weather.

Two of the canoes remain preserved in the lake’s cool, dark waters; the third was found at a shallower depth and has deteriorated. It’s not known why the canoes’ makers never returned for them.

All three are fragile — vulnerable to trash and debris dumped by boaters — and the tribe hasn’t decided whether it’s best to remove them or leave them be, according to Stedtler.

“It’s critical to us that we make the right decision,” she said.

The Nipmuc’s territory once spanned much of central New England. But they faced aggressive efforts to convert them to Christianity in the 17th century. Even then, English colonists feared them, and they were forcibly relocated to Deer Island in Boston Harbor during King Phillip’s War, according to the Hassanamisco Indian Museum in Grafton.

Nipmuc who converted to Christianity were permitted only to live in a handful of towns, including present day Natick, according to the museum.

The Hassanamisco Nipmuc were recognized as a tribe by Massachusetts following a 1976 executive order signed by Governor Michael Dukakis, but the federal government has not acknowledged the tribe. The Hassanamisco Nipmuc has about 2,000 enrolled members, according to Stedtler.

Stedtler said discussions around the canoes over the years have included other Nipmuc artifacts picked up by neighbors. She said some have been reluctant to share what they found with the tribe, out of concern the tribe will ask for them back.

So the tribe put out a request instead: allow the Nipmuc to photograph and study the objects, and use that information to add to the tribe’s cultural history. The finders, in effect, stay keepers.

On the shore of Quinsigamond one recent evening, Stedtler hosted a discussion with about a dozen people, including several local residents, about the canoes found in the lake, the mishoon being built in Shrewsbury, and the tribe’s efforts to preserve its history.

Paula and Peter Collins, who live nearby, brought a pair of items they found along Lake Quinsigamond about 20 years ago. One appeared to be a pipe, the other an oblong-shaped piece of wood with a flat base.

The provenance of the objects wasn’t clear that night, but state archeologists inspected the items, took photos and made measurements, and talked with the couple about how they were found.

Peter Collins said he hopes that other residents who have found Nipmuc artifacts will also come forward.

“People don’t understand the [Nipmuc] culture, and the cool things that they did,” Peter Collins said. “People should know about it.”

For neighbors, knowledge the lake is home to Nipmuc artifacts helps build bonds with tribal members, according to Barbara Kickham, president of the Lake Quinsigamond Watershed Association.

Kickham doesn’t have Nipmuc relics but hopes people will share them with the tribe.

“What’s the point of keeping something like that?” Kickham asked. “Let’s share them with the Native Americans, [who] have a much deeper appreciation for these things.”

A few minutes drive south, in Shrewsbury, Bearclaw was working on the new mishoon on the shore of Flint Pond.

Just a few days before its launch, Bearclaw looked to the calm water, and clear sky. For a moment, the sounds of automobiles and gas-powered boats faded away.

This is what it must have been like for his ancestors, all those centuries ago, he pointed out.

“It makes you feel something, just being part of it,” Bearclaw said. “This is a big deal.”

John Hilliard can be reached at john.hilliard@globe.com.