Gay Head or Aqunah? Change to a vote

Contents:

• GAY HEAD JOURNAL; A TOWN WH HISTORY, BUT WHOSE?
• GAY HEAD VOTED OUT AS MASS. TOWN'S NAME
• GAY HEAD OR AQUNAH? CHANGE TO A VOTE

GAY HEAD JOURNAL; A TOWN WH HISTORY, BUT WHOSE?

The Wampanoag were the first people of anctors of Wampanoag people have lived for at least 10, 000 years at Aqunah (Gay Head) and throughout the island of Noepe (Martha's Veyard), pursug a tradnal enomy based on fishg and agriculture.

In 1870, over the unanimo objectns of the Wampanoag Indian rints, the Town of Gay Head was rporated. From the Wampanoag pot of view, the prcipal effect of the rporatn of Gay Head was the alienatn of Wampanoag Indian District Lands (rervatn), which was vlatn of the Feral Non-Interurse Act of 1790. Bee the Tribe ntrolled the Gay Head town ernment for more than a century sce 1870, the effects of this alienatn were largely obscured, and the tegry of the Tribal Common Lands seemed to be aquately protected.

GAY HEAD VOTED OUT AS MASS. TOWN'S NAME

In 1972, however, rponse to the growg potentialy for encroachment on Tribal Common Lands, the Wampanoag Tribal Council of Gay Head, Inc. The mon lands clu the Gay Head Cliffs, Herrg Creek, and Lobsterville.

The Master Plan followed several years of vtigative efforts and illtrat the prent visn of the future tribal muny Gay Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aqunah) and the Town of Gay Head entered to agreement June of 1995 to jotly provi for the health, safety and welfare of persons on Tribal Lands by providg for the e of police, fire, and medil personnel and rourc the event of disaster, disorr, fire or other emergenci arisg on Tribal Lands. The Tribe's Aqunah Rangers are EMT certified and provi servic for both Tribal Lands and the up-island 1998, the name of the town was officially changed om Gay Head back to s former Wampanoag name of Aqunah by the state legislature, reprentg regnn of Wampanoag history the regn. A group of Indians and wh here would like that to May 15, the 191 registered voters this town on the wtern edge of Martha's Veyard will be asked whether Gay Head should change s name to Aqunah, the origal Wampanoag name for the wtern Veyard the measure succeeds, Gay Head would bee only the third Massachetts municipaly this century to rename self.

Cottage Cy, also on the Veyard, changed to Oak Bluffs 1907 and Manchter, on the state's north shore, beme Manchter-by-the-Sea last procs began here last month, when Carl Widdiss, a 41-year-old Wampanoag (pronounced wam-pa-NO-og), circulated a petn that asked rints if they wanted to vote on whether Gay Head should bee Aqunah (pronounced ah-KWIN-ah), which he said means "land unr the hill. " The hill, acrdg to tribal lore, is Peaked Hill, a knoll the neighborg town of Chilmark om which all of Gay Head n be Widdiss need 19 signatur, or 10 percent of the votg rolls, to get the qutn on the ballot; ls than two weeks, he llected 24.

GAY HEAD OR AQUNAH? CHANGE TO A VOTE

He said his primary motivatn was a sire to rtore his tribe's stature the culture of southeastern New no pot has the movement to change the name foced on the 20th-century nnotatn of the word "gay, " which meant somethg que different when was affixed to this area durg the 17th century. Nowhere, at tim, has the lite balance between permanent rints and seasonal visors been more prer than Gay town tak s name om the spectacular Gay Head Cliffs, a craggy amalgamatn of red and brown clay that stretch for a e across the island's wtern promontory and plung 150 steep feet to the Atlantic Ocean.

"I really thk those people would roll over their grav if we were to trash the name of Gay Head, " he said.

We're also proud of Gay Head.