Stockbridge — Despite the rain, a crowd of several dozen gathered at the end of Park Street in Stockbridge on Thursday morning, by the footbridge that leads across to Ice Glen and Laura’s Tower, for a dedication to celebrate new signage honoring our land’s Mohican heritage.
The Stockbridge-Munsee band of Mohicans called themselves “People of the Waters that are Never Still,” and they called this place “Wa’thatinik,” meaning “the Land Beyond the Mountains.” As a result of their input, a sign bearing this word, along with a turtle, a symbol important to the tribe, will grace this Housatonic River crossing, as well as nine other locations in town as yet to be fully determined. A 10th sign was given to the tribe, said Stockbridge Select Board member Patrick White, who began reading the dedication.
“Please say it with me—Wa’thatinik. Translated, it means, ‘the Land Beyond the Mountains.’ What the ancient voices named this place we now know as the Berkshires,” White began. “It may be hard for some of us to imagine, but for time immemorial Mohican was the language of these lands. Beyond this bridge lies an ancient forest now known as Ice Glen, so old that its same trees were already mighty when Chiefs Konkapot and Umpachene welcomed white settlers with some trepidation nearly 300 years ago.”
Sherry White, the Stockbridge-Munsee tribal liaison who was visiting from Wisconsin, picked up with the reading of the statement, which finished, “Wa’thatinik is but a fragment of the many words of these ancient, old growth woods. If the forest could speak, the stories it might tell. We are honored to take this moment to once again speak this phrase of the common tongue when these trees were young. Many of us hope that, going forward, as our Mohican friends share with us their timeless wisdom, we will together become better stewards of the rivers, meadows, lakes, and forests of Wa’thatinik—this beautiful ‘Land Beyond the Mountains.’”
The Stockbridge-Munsee resettled in Wisconsin after being driven from their homeland which, in the 1700s, included what is now the Berkshires. The decision to honor their presence here and increase their visibility with new signage was made earlier this year, at the January 18 Stockbridge Select Board meeting.
That meeting, at which the town also agreed to form a six-member Stockbridge Mohican Commission to strengthen ties between the town and the tribe, followed a landmark announcement last year that 351 acres of Monument Mountain would be returned to the Stockbridge-Munsee as part of a grant to foster climate resilience and Indigenous management of lands.
Marybeth Mitts, Lenox Select Board member and independent candidate for the 3rd Berkshire District seat in the State House of Representatives, was present at the dedication and credited the passion of Patrick White in bringing about all of these collaborations. “He’s been really diligent about working with Sherry [White]. Patrick and I work on a lot of things together, as Stockbridge and Lenox select board members, and I just think it’s fantastic that he’s gotten these dedications mounted, and I know that he’s working on the Stockbridge-Munsee museum project here in Stockbridge. I wish him all the best.”
Patrick White’s fellow Select Board member Jamie Minacci, attending the ceremony, commented, “It’s such a wonderful thing that we have this relationship now with the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of the Mohicans, and I think it’s just so wonderful we could dedicate part of their land and try to put some of their culture into our history, too.”
Stockbridge Town Administrator Michael Canales said that the original plan was to tap the sign in today, but given the weather, they decided to hold off. The plan had also been for the ceremony to move to a second site, where the Housatonic River crosses near the Stockbridge Golf Club, but with the rain, they opted for a shortened version. But Canales said the town would put the signs up in publicly accessible areas, so people can see the name by the river.
As far as deciding the other seven locations to place the signs, White said, “We have a new Stockbridge Mohican Commission and that’ll be one of their tasks, to work with the town and the tribe and figure it out. We’re going to be in less of a hurry.”
