Shinnecocks are pushing to protect sacred sites

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Tribe member Rebecca Genia explained that the Shinnecocks buried their chiefs at the highest points in the town and always facing east.

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Standing atop Sugarloaf Hills, the highest summit in Southampton Town, Rebecca Genia of the Shinnecock Indian Nation looks to the east and states: “This is our most sacred site.”

The reason for this, Ms. Genia explains, is that her ancestors buried their sachems, or chiefs, at the highest points in the town and always facing east. “This was so the sunrise could greet them on their journey to the spirit world,” she notes.

In fact, Ms. Genia says Sugarloaf Hills derives its name from the white sand that the Shinnecocks would use to raise the burial grounds even higher. When the Europeans arrived in Southampton in the mid-17th century, they observed that the white sand resembled sugar.

Arguing that the graves of her ancestors have been desecrated and disrespected by development throughout Southampton Town, Ms. Genia, for years an activist regarding issues affecting the tribe, is now pushing to get the Town Board to halt further development on sacred Shinnecock sites. “All we are asking for is justice,” Ms. Genia says. “No one’s grave should be disturbed.”

Town Supervisor Linda Kabot recently had the official Shinnecock Seal placed at Town Hall, a sign that her administration is interested in not only recognizing the Shinnecocks but working with them to address their needs—a significant change from recent years, when interaction between the tribe and town was mostly limited to court appearances. The supervisor notes that she respects Ms. Genia’s beliefs and emphasizes that her requests “have not fallen on deaf ears.”

Ms. Genia says she believes that Ms. Kabot is acting in good faith, but adds that she is hoping for Town Board action to back it up—such as the purchase of 9.3 acres along Montauk Highway in Water Mill, the site of the former St. James Hotel. In November 2006, a 1,000-year-old skull, believed to be the remains of a Native American boy, was discovered during a state-mandated archeological dig. That find halted development on the site, and Greg Konner, the property’s owner, agreed to forego his development plans and sell his property to the town.

Ms. Genia says it was customary for her people to bury family together. “Because he was a young boy, it’s only logical that there are other remains there,” she adds. The Shinnecocks believe that an ancient fishing village, dating back thousands of years, was located on the property as well.

Though a last-minute legal entanglement has prevented the town from purchasing Mr. Konner’s property, Ms. Kabot says the municipality is poised to buy the 9.3 acres with Community Preservation Fund money. The town is expected to spend $5 million to buy and preserve the property.

Ms. Kabot notes that since she took office in January, there has been a thaw in the relationship between the town and the tribe—a chilling effect blamed largely on the tribe’s push to open a casino on the East End, and the legal battles that ensued as the town fought to stop it. “We can reach out to each other before something becomes a crisis,” Ms. Kabot said. “I certainly respect and understand their desires to protect the graves of their ancestors.”

Though one homeowner now residing in Sugarloaf Hills has dismissed claims that several houses in Shinnecock Hills sit above the most hallowed of Shinnecock ground, a local expert on Long Island’s indigenous people not only supports Ms. Genia’s claim but takes it one step further.

“It’s not just one of the most significant sites in Southampton, it’s one of the most important burial sites in the State of New York,” says Dr. John Strong, former professor emeritus at Long Island University’s Southampton College, now Stony Brook Southampton.

Dr. Strong, the author of three books on Long Island’s Native Americans, says the “orient burial pattern” was first uncovered in the 1930s by Roy Latham, a North Fork archeologist. “This pattern began in Orient Point, ran through Jamesport and up to Sugarloaf,” Dr. Strong says.

In 1959, William Ritchie, a state archeologist who studied Mr. Latham’s work, published “Stony Brook Site: Its Relation To Archaic and Transitional Cultures on Long Island,” which, according to Dr. Strong, validated the burial pattern.

“These burial sites are well documented,” he says. “Not only that, the Shinnecocks’ genealogy is one of the most well documented of any tribe in the country.” This is because, Dr. Strong says, the tribe has been filing its elections with the town clerk’s office since 1792.

What makes the Sugarloaf Hills site even more special to Ms. Genia is her belief that the last chiefs with Algonquian names are interred on the grounds. “After the Europeans landed, my people adopted Christian names,” she explains.