September 14 – 28, 2024

Master mishoon maker Jonathan James-Perry (Aquinnah Wampanoag) will join the Little Compton Historical Society for an artist’s residency this September. He will lead a team of Wampanoag artisans and paddlers in the making of a Wampanoag mishoon (dugout canoe) at the Little Compton Historical Society, which is located on the traditional homelands of the Sakonnet Wampanoag people. Jonathan and his team will then conduct a Reconnecting Ceremony and launch the mishoon near Squant Rock, a sacred Wampanoag site, at Sakonnet Point, and paddle the mishoon on the Sakonnet River.

The mishoon and the ceremonies surrounding it are important parts of two Historical Society projects: this year’s transportation exhibit, Little Compton Connected, and next year’s Sakonnet History Project. Upon completion, the mishoon will become a focal point in the Historical Society’s Sakonnet Wampanoag History Garden which will open to the public in late June 2025. We hope the mishoon paddling on the Sakonnet becomes an annual collaborative event.

This project is made possible through the generous support of St. Andrew’s Lodge, Rhode Island Humanities, the Little Compton Historical Society’s members and donors, and our Wampanoag and Narragansett advisors. 

Squant Rock

Though each storyteller shares their own version of the Squant tradition, this is a simple retelling of the story that forever connects Aquinnah with Sakonnet: Moshup is a giant who lived on Martha’s Vineyard. When the newcomers came across the sea, Moshup changed his children into killer whales, and tossed his wife and their mother, Squant, to the shore of Sakonnet where she turned to stone. Here, she continues to watch over her children and protect Wampanoag ocean voyagers. Squant still sits at Sakonnet, quarried away through the centuries by the newcomers.

Mishoon Making

The public is invited to join Jonathan and his team during the creation of the mishoon on the Historical Society grounds, 548 West Main Road, Little Compton, RI. The public burning times are alcohol free events and are free and open to all. Guests are welcome to picnic on the grounds.

Burning Dates: September 14, 15, 21, 22

•      Public Welcome: 10 AM to 4 PM
•      Craft with LCHS Staff: 2 PM

Night Burn: Saturday, September 21

•      Public Welcome: 7 to 10 PM
•      Kingfisher performs Eastern Social Songs: 7:30 & 8:30 PM

Autumnal Equinox Celebration: Sunday, September 22

•      Last Mishoon Burning Day
•      Public Welcome: 10 AM to 4 PM
•      Activities from 11 AM to 2 PM 

Join Wampanoag artisans & educators to learn about and participate in traditional art forms and games:

• Make a wampum pendant, corn husk doll, and painted deerskin bracelet.
  • Play Wampanoag football.
•      Author Talk and Book Signing with Linda Coombs
  • Author of Colonization and the Wampanoag Story: 2:30 PM

Launch Day – September 28

Weather Permitting 

Mishoon Launch

• Public Welcome, 10 AM
• Squant Rock, Lloyd’s Beach, Sakonnet Point

Keepnumooôk Feast – Harvest Feast

• Enjoy traditional Indigenous foods catered by Chef Sherry Pocknett
• Ticketed Event, 4 PM
• Little Compton Community Center
• Honoring the Mishoon Makers and Paddlers
• Celebrating the launch of the Mishoon and the 2024-2026 Sakonnet History Project
• Purchase tickets here.

Concert

• Featuring Jennifer Kreisberg (Tuscarora), Award-Winning Native American Vocalist
• Free and Open to the Public, 6:30 PM
• Little Compton Community Center Lawn