Shinnecock Indian Nation

Shinnecock Indians and the Twin Towers February 6, 2004

By David Stoll

February 6, 2004
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The Shinnecock Indian Nation Cultural Center and Museum has played a significant role in the attempt to get the World Trade Center site included on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Museum's involvement began recently when the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC), a State/City entity created after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, invited the Museum, along with a broad variety of historians, cultural experts, government agencies and victims' families, to participate in meetings about how to ensure the protection of certain structural remains of the terrorist attacks still at the site. The LMDC hope to have the WTC site listed on the National Register of Historic Places for this purpose, but listing in the Register typically requires that the site at issue has existed for at least 50 years. The WTC was not completed until the early 1970s.

The Shinnecock Museum was represented by the chairwoman of its trustees, Winona Warren, and the trustees' president emeritus, Edwin C. Garrett. The Shinnecocks were one of only two tribes in attendance at the meetings; representatives of the Lenape, or Delaware, tribe also attended. During a broad discussion, Ms. Warren and Mr. Garrett observed that although the WTC buildings were not 50 years old, Native Americans were present in the area since before Manhattan was called Manhattan. The attendees at the meeting were quite interested in the pre-colonial history and excited about the potential that this history could have a bearing upon the site's inclusion in the Registry. The Development Corporation asked that the Museum provide further written comments.

The Museum did so last week. In its written submission, the Museum explained that there is currently scant written reference to the vast history of the Native Americans' presence in lower Manhattan and their impact on its development from pre-colonial times through and including the construction of the WTC towers. In fact, Native Americans have a history in lower Manhattan dating from the first of their seven historical periods in this area, starting with the Orient Point period, through the Sebonac, Fox Creek, Minisink, Bowman's Brook, Clason Point and Colonial Periods. Moreover, New York area Indian tribes have long been represented among steel workers, and many Native Americans (who tend not to fear heights) helped both to build the twin towers and then to tear down many of the remains when the site was being cleared. Thus, the Museum observed that inclusion of the site in the Registry would honor not only the victims of the terrorist attacks but also the contributions of Native Americans to that site and that area over hundreds of years.

After receiving the Museum's comments, the LMDC, along with the Federal Transit Administration and the Federal Highway Administration, agreed that the WTC site should be included in the Register, citing the contributions of the Shinnecock Museum in addition to the obvious import of the site following the 9/11 attacks. The agencies are in the process of making a submission to the Registry.

The Museum expects to receive additional inquiries about pre-colonial history as the LMDC continues its work on this matter. Also, the Museum has asked the LMDC to consider involving the Museum's curator, David Martine, in the cultural center planned for the site. Mr. Martine's murals representing the broad history of Native Americans on Long Island are on display at the Museum. Ms. Warren and Mr. Garrett have suggested that representatives of the planned cultural center visit the Museum to see his murals and the other exhibits in order to understand the type of exhibitions that Mr. Martine could develop to reflect Native Americans' important role in lower Manhattan, both during pre-colonial times and in building the WTC itself. In fact, the Museum even hopes to have a future role in an interpretive museum and cultural center planned for the southwest corner of the memorial parcel of the WTC site

The Shinnecock Museum is located just west of Southampton Village on the Montauk Highway at West Gate Road. It currently houses two permanent exhibits, which include Mr. Martine's murals and 20 extraordinary bronze sculptures of Native American figures created by Dave McGary and bequeathed to the Museum by Frederick DeMatteis. It is the only Native American-owned-and-operated Museum on Long Island.