anyone have any resources on the native history of the Mt Tom (or Mt Holyoke) Range? I'm struggling to find any information outside of a colonizer's perspective. I love "Mt. Tom" but I feel like I'm doing a major disservice to the land and her people by using that name! Thank you ♥
The last time I was on Mt. Tom I had this exact thought!! I went looking and couldn't find any sources specifically about the mountains, but I will share what I did find and maybe that will help somebody else find what we are looking for.
First, native-land.ca says that the Nonotuck, Nipmuc, and Pocumtuc all called Mt Tom their home. The Nipmuc and Pocumtuc lived across much of the state, but the Nonotuck were much more localized to what we call Pioneer Valley now. I highly recommend clicking through each nation and the sources listed on that site.
Importantly, members of all three nations still live in the area! While the Nonotuck and Pocumtuck both mostly merged with other nations, the Nipmuc have (at least) two organizations that represent the modern nation: the Hassanamisco Nipmuc Band (nipmuc.gov/) and the Tribal Government of the Nipmuc Nation (nipmucnation.org/). Both groups have many members, events, and education. There seems to be some amount of fighting between them, but I do not know nearly enough about it to make any sort of comment or informed opinion.
The Hassanamisco Nipmuc Band also runs the Hassanamisco Indian Museum in Grafton, MA (eastern-central MA). The website for the museum is currently broken, and Google says it is temporarily closed, so if anybody has any further info about that, that would be great! I'd love to go some time.
There are also a variety of pow wows and similar events held here in Massachusetts that are open to the public. One of the biggest is a Nipmuc pow wow held in the late summer every year. And yes, I have been told directly by multiple indigenous folks that they really actually do want non-natives to go to these events and learn and have fun and buy native-made goods. (https://calendar.powwows.com/events/annual-nipmuck-pow-wow/)
Lastly, check out the Massachusetts Center for Native American Awareness! (www.mcnaa.org/)
