—By Natalie Waloven

Introduction

Since time immemorial, the Wabanaki and their ancestors have lived on the land upon which Gilsland Farm sits. Comprised of the Abenaki, Penobscot, Passamaquoddy, Wolastoqew (Maliseet), and Mi’kmaq tribes, the Wabanaki, or “People of the Dawnland,” are the original stewards of what is now known as Maine. Specifically, the Aucucisco band of the Abenaki inhabited modern Falmouth and Casco Bay. Despite the efforts of colonization and assimilation, the history of this land starts with these Indigenous people.

Gilsland Farm as a Place

Gilsland Farm is part of a much larger region here in the south of what is now known as Maine. It is an important location, as it connects two key aspects of life: the river and the sea. Presumpscot River, “the place of many falls” (or, “the place of many hills”), was a vital source of food, transport, and resources for the Wabanaki people and their ancestors. Key settlements, like Amancongan, were based along the Presumpscot River. Now called the Presumpscot Falls, Amancongan was an agricultural settlement home to many of the sakoms, or leaders, at the time of European arrival.

The Presumpscot River meets the ocean in Casco Bay, or Cascoak, likely meaning “the place of the Great Blue Herons.” The estuary is the home of many species of flora and fauna prized by the Wabanaki for spiritual or subsistence, such as mollusks, muskrat, cattails, muskrat root, and sweetgrass. The bay itself also houses many islands that the Wabanaki used as places of trade, gathering, and celebration.

For the Wabanaki people, a place is not merely something bought, owned, and used. The land itself is sacred, the place from which we all originate and to which we ultimately return. People are not domineering over the landscape but a part of it, and so all of the land and its inhabitants must be respected. In this sense, concepts of land ownership and private property were nonsensical.

Furthermore, from a practical perspective, traditional homeland was essential for survival. Thousands of years of ancestral Indigenous knowledge were based on these lands. As a migratory people, the Wabanaki relied on this knowledge and seasonal travel to maintain their way of life. Without the land, none of it would be possible.

A Place in Time

The first people to arrive in this region arrived with the retreat of the glaciers, around 13,000 years ago. They were primarily nomadic hunters of caribou and large ancient game that moved in as the tundra spread northward, bringing the people with them. Little is known about these first people, called the Paleoindians, but they likely came from the Hudson Bay area. They were skilled craftspeople and hunters with a large trading network, as many of their tools used materials that did not originate from this region.

Despite inhabiting what is now southern Maine, these first peoples wouldn’t have inhabited the region of Gilsland Farm, along the modern coast, because millennia of heavy ice sheets had sunk the coastline far inward, and most of coastal Maine was underwater. It wasn’t until around 6,000 years ago that the ocean retreated and stabilized where it is today.

This was well into the Archaic Period of Indigenous history, which spanned from approximately 9,000 B.C.E. to 1,000 B.C.E. These people, a combination of the descendants of the Paleoindians and new arrivals, built on the knowledge of their ancestors to develop new, advanced techniques for hunting, travel, and expressing culture. They created the first canoes of the region, simple dugout canoes, that allowed them to migrate across rivers and hunt fish at sea, such as swordfish. Various groups also began expressing new rituals and traditions. Most notably perhaps were the Moorehead phase people, popularly called the “Red Paint People,” who used red ochre in their ceremonies and burial rituals. Yet indigenous culture was already diverse and complex, with distinct communities developing across the region. It wasn’t until the expansion of pottery and agriculture that the most recent era of pre-colonial Wabanaki history began.

The Ceramic Period, stretching from the end of the Archaic Period to the arrival of European settlers, saw the most advancements, including some of the most well-known aspects of Wabanaki culture. Birchbark canoes, baskets, and pottery were all developed and mastered during this time, allowing the Wabanaki truly to thrive. Contrary to popular belief, they also engaged in agriculture. The Three Sisters—corn, squash, and beans—were all grown here, as well as potatoes and tobacco. Additionally, expert stewardship practices like controlled burning helped the Wabanaki develop natural gardens in nature, including wild blueberries. Often mistaken for natural occurrences, many of these groves still exist today.

While the era was not without conflict, cultural celebration, few illnesses, and general plenty made the region a sort of paradise for the Wabanaki and their ancestors. They prioritized peaceful cooperation through trade, which extended as far north as Quebec and Nova Scotia and as far south as Connecticut and Long Island. Careful forest management and conscientious harvest ensured that plants and animals thrived year after year, preventing overharvesting and guaranteeing prosperity for future generations.

A Place of Challenge

The first modern European settlement in modern-day Maine was by Samuel de Champlain in 1604 at Saint Croix Island, but it wasn’t until later that they arrived in Southern Maine. English settlement first started in modern Falmouth in 1630 along the Presumpscot River. Immediately, conflicts between the English and the Abenaki broke out.

The English had more powerful weaponry, but the Indigenous people had greater numbers and knowledge of the land. However, they faced significant challenges. Battle with northern Wabanaki tribes, instigated and aggravated by the French colonization to the north, had weakened the Abenaki, and European diseases devastated the population before settlers even began to establish themselves in southern Maine. The Great Dying of 1616-1619 ravaged the coastal Indigenous populations of New England, killing between 75% and 95% of the population.

Nevertheless, the Wabanaki still managed to push the European settlers twice out of Casco Bay with King Phillip’s War. Yet ultimately, both sides reached peace with the Treaty of Casco in 1678, which granted the settlers parcels of land, for which they would have to pay an annual fee. The agreement was headed by the powerful Sakoms Skitterygusset and Warrabitta, siblings who lived at Amancongan on the Presumpscot River. They, along with Rawandagon (Robinhood), Casin, and other sakoms, negotiated many land deals in the coming years with the English, still accessible in the York Deeds, which stretch from the 1640s into the 1700s.

Peace was short-lived, however. More European settlers soon arrived, and they began constructing destructive dams along the Presumpscot River. These dams blocked fish migration upstream, which was essential for subsistence. In protest, Chief Polin heroically travelled twice to Boston on foot to protest the dams. He was unsuccessful and was assassinated soon after his return. Further conflicts ensued, including King William’s War and Queen Anne’s War, and the Abenaki of southern Maine were eventually all killed or forced north into modern-day Quebec.

For the few Indigenous people who remained, relegated to small reservations with little to no authority, difficulty endured. Residential and day schooling in the United States started in the late 19th century and continued through the 1970s, aimed at assimilating Indigenous children and erasing Indigenous culture, often entailing violence, assault, and trauma. While preservation efforts are underway, decades of punishment and violence have severely harmed Indigenous culture, and its effects are still felt.

Today, there is still much work to be done, but reconciliation has offered promise. Wabanaki people of Maine still face the challenge of gaining their rightful sovereignty as earned by the rest of the tribes in the United States, but limited by federal and state legislation. Inaccessibility to sacred land, limited food sovereignty, and harmful characters of Indigenous people remain as further challenges faced by Indigenous people, both in Maine and across the continent. However, increased recognition and education around Wabanaki culture and history are all reasons to hope for a brighter future for all.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Natalie Waloven is Wolastoqey (Maliseet) from Yarmouth, Maine, and a citizen of Neqotkuk (Tobique First Nation) in New Brunswick. Her work focuses on language and culture preservation, revitalization, and education. Natalie currently studies anthropology and economics at Dartmouth College.

References/Sources available on request: email media@maineaudubon.org