Executive Summary
The Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation (EPTN) is a state recognized, constitutional Native
American tribe and is eligible for services under the Administration for Children and Families,
Administration for Native Americans, Social and Economic Development Strategies SEDS,
HS-2014-ACF-ANA-NA-0776. See EPTN constitution.
The EPTN’s mission to protect our sovereignty, conserve and develop our tribal resources
and promote the self-sufficiency of our people and our descendants. The EPTN reservation was
established in 1683 in North Stonington, Connecticut by the colonial government
This project, Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation Historic Preservation Program, Phase II, will
build upon: (1) a 6 year environmental regulatory enhancement program supported by the US
Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families,
Administration for Native Americans to locate and preserve natural and cultural resources on the
225 acre Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation reservation and (2) a 10 year collaborative Historic
Preservation Program, Phase I, supported by the University of Massachusetts, Boston (UMass)
under the direction of Dr. Stephen Silliman to locate and preserve historical artifacts and cultural
sites on the Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation reservation.
With the assistance of the US Department of Health and Human Services from 1999 to
2004, the EPTN completed an Environmental Regulatory Enhancement Master Plan, recruited
project staff and consultants to document and map a preliminary environmental assessment of the
natural and cultural resources on the historic EPTN reservation, coordinated state and federal
efforts to remove toxic materials from the reservation, developed relationships with governmental
agencies addressing environmental concerns, and completed a plan of operation for the EPTN
environmental program.
With the assistance of UMass from 2003 to 2013, Phase I of the EPTN Historic
Preservation Program, the EPTN located historical sites circa 1750 to 1850 to understand the
persistence of EPTN in the colonial world over the last three centuries, completed extensive
mapping of houses, cellars, walls, and stone piles, trained tribal community interns and college
students in archaeological techniques and historic preservation methods, located EPTN evidence
of materials used in households and colonial markets and recovered EPTN stone tools and objects
thousands of years old.
Phase I of the EPTN Historic Preservation Program provides that UMass is the curator and
temporary preservation repository for EPTN historic artifacts. The program includes a Tribal
Reservation Guide and Cultural Advisor, 2 Historic Preservation Advisors, 2 tribal interns and 10
college students to participate in a 5-week summer field school. Dr. Silliman provides on-site
annual presentations with a mobile exhibit for the tribal community and the public. In addition Dr.
Silliman supervises students working on their Master’s degree in an on-going analysis of the
historical collection. The collection spans thousands of years with an enormous amount of artifacts
dating to the colonial period and some recovered that are thousands of years old.
Phase II of the Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation Historic Preservation Program, addresses the
SEDS focus areas of Social Development and Governance: Specifically: (1) Arts and Culture –
Enhancing a historical archaeology project that promotes, preserves, and restores Eastern Pequot
Tribal Nation’s culture and artifacts (2) Organizational Development - Increasing EPTNs
organizational capacity to successfully implement its mission and goals and (3) Leadership Skills Enriching and strengthening the management and organizational capacities of EPTN.
The project goals of Phase II of the Historic Preservation program are to: (1) Enhance the
on-going Eastern Pequot Historical Preservation Program with more tribal project staff (2)
Coordinate the transfer of major artifacts from UMASS to EPTN and set up a permanent, on-site
exhibit of artifacts and a preservation storage system and (3) Develop an on-site tribal
management and educational, community participation program.