Eastern Woodlands Homesite

Eastern Woodlands Homesite

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Join Andre Strongbearheart Gaines Jr., Creative Director of NO LOOSE BRAIDS, with Tracy Ramos, William SmallEarCoyote Connors, Miguel WanderingTurtle Garate, and Nazario TallHairRedDeer Garate to learn about Eastern Woodlands culture, land use, and living presence through exploration of a traditional Nipmuc homesite.

Built by Nipmuc citizens Andre Strongbearheart Gaines Jr. and Nazario TallHairRedDeer Garate, this homesite brings Eastern Woodlands peoples and the public together to highlight urgent issues of access, health, and the sustainability of cedar swamps in the Eastern Woodlands.

The structures are crafted from cedar trees harvested from Douglas State Forest and are centered around the hearth, where Gaines led the burning of a miniature mishoon (an example of a dugout canoe) over three days in May 2022. The homesite includes a traditional fishnet station, a tripod and fish cookstation, fleshing and stretching poles used to process deer skin into hides, a deer hide rack, a large double tripod cooksite, and a miniature mishoon.

“Our people have kept a lot, but we’ve lost a lot as well,” says Gaines. “It’s really become our purpose, our mission, to have cultural revitalization and cultural preservation. One of those ways we do that is continuously building sites like this …. doing all these things that we did traditionally, so that these things don’t get lost.”

Andre Strongbearheart Gaines Jr. is a traditional artist, cultural steward, and Creative Director of NO LOOSE BRAIDS. He is currently an artist in residence at Ohketeau Cultural Center in Ashfield, MA.

andrestrongbearheart.com | @no_loose_braids | ohketeau.org

Land Stewardship and Reciprocity

Lighting the Fire at the Eastern Woodlands Homesite

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