Yarmouth Historical Commission
This Cairn recognizes the last resting place of the Indigenous Peoples of Yarmouth and was erected by Daniel Wing Jr and others in 1881. The top stone made of glacier rock was found at White’s Path and weighs three-thousand pounds. The inscription reads:
ON THIS SLOPE LIE BURIED
THE LAST NATIVE INDIANS
OF YARMOUTH
The picture on the right shows the Cairn as it would have appeared in 1881 on the south-eastern slope of Long Pond. Over the years the Cairn base became worn down and collapsed.
In 2017 concerned citizens of Yarmouth addressed the deteriorated condition of the Cairn. Subsequently a committee was formed by the Town to restack the stone structure. The committee had the Cairn rebuilt
and refurbished the memorial site with funding through the (CPA) Community Preservation Act. Pictured here is work being done resetting the Cairn on January 25, 2019.
This sign was created to be historically correct and act as an educational tool for readers. It is installed at the Cairn site on Indian Memorial Drive in South Yarmouth. The significance of the border accents the purple color of the quahog shell and wampum used by the local Indigenous Peoples.
Further educational resources listed on this website convey a sense of the culture and history created by the Pawkunnawkut Tribe of the South Sea Indigenous Peoples.
The Scholarly Papers attached on this site present an English historical depiction of the Christianizing of the Indigenous Peoples living within the Plymouth Colony in the 17th century, along with some legendary writings.
Also, presented is the English historical account, through Town records, of the development and dissolution of the reservation at Yarmouth where the indigenous peoples were directed to live for sixty-five years in the 18th century.
