GILL — Marking the return of the annual Pocumtuck Homelands Festival, paddlers set off from Barton Cove on Friday, with a traditional Wampanoag dugout canoe called a mishoon leading a group of kayaks, canoes and paddle boards down the Connecticut River.

Nolumbeka Project President David Brule worked with Jonathan Perry of the Aquinnah Wampanoag to make the mishoon in 2019.

“Jonathan suggested that we do a mishoon around the time of the festival, so we found online an 18-foot white pine in Belchertown and it was 48 inches in diameter,” Brule recounted.

With the help of Turners Falls Municipal Airport Manager Bryan Camden, Brule and Perry transported the log to Unity Park during the festival that year for Perry, his wife and a group of others with tribal affiliation to begin the traditional burning method to create the mishoon. Perry and his cousins also used a tool called an adze to cut through more of the wood.

The boat was not completed during that year’s festival, and the pandemic meant the process to finish the boat was not resumed until later in August 2020. Despite there not being a Pocumtuck Homelands Festival that year, the paddle still occurred and the mishoon made its debut. Perry was joined by other members of the Wampanoag to paddle down the river.

The creation of the mishoon and its voyage down the river is an important moment for Brule and other Native attendees.

“This is a spot that you can really feel the spiritual energy here, and it’s all very moving to be paddling out there,” Brule said. “Jonathan put it really well by saying each paddle stroke, which is repeating the strokes that ancestors took going upriver, is really important for Native people.”

Rahiem Eleazer, part of the Mashantucket Pequot, attended the paddle in 2023. He said he finds the ability to practice a piece of Native culture like this important to cultural preservation.

“Without our culture, then what are we if we’re not practicing our traditional cultures? We’re just completely assimilated, which personally I feel like we can’t have,” Eleazer said. “If we are able to continue to practice our culture, then it gives some hope to future generations and something to pass on.”

In addition to the paddlers present, representatives from the Connecticut River Conservancy environmental advocacy organization attended in collaboration with Adventure East and the Nolumbeka Project. Stacey Lennard, events manager for the Connecticut River Conservancy, said she feels this event is unique for its use of the river for a cultural purpose.

“It’s a real opportunity for all of us working on the event and the entire community to meet each other and get to know a lot of the Indigenous folks who are here on the mishoon who are not even living here anymore, so they’ve come back to honor their history and traditions,” she said.

Lennard also noted the paddling event serves as an opportunity for use of the river to be discussed when it comes to conservation — a subject also tied in with culture.

“I think anytime we get people out on the water, like engaging on the river itself, is an opportunity to talk about all these things,” Lennard said, “and to share our collective passion for keeping that going.”

Erin-Leigh Hoffman can be reached at ehoffman@recorder.com or 413-930-4231.