TALCOTT MOUNTAIN STATE PARK, CT. There’s a dense fog where a view of the Farmington Valley should be. But Jay Levy sees more. And by the time he has concluded his interpretive hike on Indigenous history and culture, so does everyone else.
There’s the cave where Metacomet, chief of the Wampanoag Tribe, watched the town of Simsbury burn in 1676. There’s the tree bark that continues to be used medicinally by the Mashantucket Pequot people. At one overlook, Levy passes around replica bones of the mastodons that once roamed the area.
Levy wears many hats. He’s a trained archaeologist who has worked with organizations like the Mohegan Tribal Historic Preservation Office, and he’s an alum of the AMC Ridge Runner program on the Appalachian Trail. Joining his hike this morning are two special guests: Joshua Carter and Miriam Maistelman.
Archaeologist Jay Levy (foreground) leading an interpretive hike on Indigenous history and culture, with AMC New England Trail Coordinator Miriam Maistelman (background).
Carter is the Executive Director of the Mashantucket Pequot Museum, which organized the hike. His work connects his Tribe’s past to its present and future through exhibits on Native history and community events like this one. Maistelman is AMC’s New England Trail (NET) Coordinator. She works with partners and landowners to improve and promote the Massachusetts section of the NET, a 235-mile National Scenic Trail running from the Long Island Sound to the Massachusetts-New Hampshire border. Last fall this scenic trail was designated as an official unit of the National Park System, and AMC manages the Massachusetts portion through the hands-on efforts of our volunteers and partners.
The NET passes into dense forests, near large metro areas, and over trap-rock ridgelines, including through Talcott Mountain State Park. Funded by a donation from Athletic Brewing Company, AMC is working with Levy to identify culturally important Indigenous sites on the NET in Massachusetts. It’s a continuation of Levy’s research for the Connecticut Forest and Park Association (CFPA), which maintains the Connecticut section of the trail.
“[The project] is engaging communities with vital history, amplifying tribal voices, and connecting trail culture to its ancestral roots,” says AMC Senior Institutional Funder Relations Officer Alexandra Molnar.
Carter, Levy, and Maistelman agree that partnerships between conservation nonprofits and Tribal Nations make sense. While we all value the land and want to see it protected, too often tribal voices have been pushed to the side.
“We see that all the time from institutions, just wanting a land acknowledgement and then that’s it… box checked,” says Levy.
Carter says AMC and the CFPA were willing to go farther. “When you’ve got folks like Jay, who is a respected, appreciated member of our community, and he establishes a relationship with AMC, that makes it so easy for us to jump in heart first,” he says.
Hikers on an interpretive walk in Talcott Mountain State Park, led by Jay Levy.
Levy’s site survey of the NET takes many forms. He’ll spend time in archives and libraries, examining primary documents. But a big part of the job is hiking the trail with Tribal elders from the Ojibwe, Pequot, Wampanoag, and Schaghticoke. Indigenous culture in the area is largely based in an oral tradition, so the direct involvement of leaders who know their Tribes’ stories and pass them on is essential.
“It’s a combination of the research, the oral tradition, and the voices of the Native people I invite to the trail. We walk the trail, and we just talk, and a lot of that information comes out,” says Levy.
Relying on oral history rather than documents has made it difficult for Tribes to legally protect some important lands. The site survey in Massachusetts could help change that. The survey also gives landowners the information they need to honor spaces, including rerouting trails away from burial grounds and erecting interpretive signs to give hikers perspective.
The survey will be accompanied by a video series about key sites, featuring interviews with Tribal elders and members. These videos will provide another way of representing the Tribes’ long histories in the region and their continued presence. The interviews also function as an extension of oral tradition, preserving history while honoring the value of passing stories down from person to person.
“It’s very different seeing people’s faces, hearing their voices, seeing how they carry themselves, listening to the tone, how their voice fluctuates, how their faces light up,” says Maistelman.
Filming for the video series concluded in June 2023. Last January, Levy and Maistelman presented some of their initial findings from the site survey at AMC’s Annual Summit. While this interpretive hike is over, thanks to the support of AMC members and donors, the stories we heard will soon thread through the New England Trail for generations of hikers to experience.
“It’s really about a deeper level of education and understanding and ensuring that the Native voice is a part of conservation efforts… Because when that’s missing, [the conservation] will never be complete. It will never be whole,” says Carter.