DARTMOUTH — “The Pocasset, From Farming to Gathering’’ will be presented by Ellie Page, Donna Raindance Page, and Cora Peirce, on Sunday, April 2 at 2:30 p.m. at the 1871 schoolhouse/library on 1205 Russells Mills Road. The program is hosted by the Dartmouth Historical & Arts Society.

The presentation will be facilitated by James Lopes, Visitor Services Supervisor at Fall River Heritage State Park, where he creates and presents programs and exhibits that interpret local history

Cora Peirce is a member of the Pocasset Wampanoag tribe of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, located on the North Watuppa Pond in Fall River. She has been working for the Narragansett Indian Tribal Historic Preservation Office for several years as a ceremonial stone landscape specialist and is the Principal Field Investigator for the office. 

Her passion for the last two decades is land preservation and weaving younger generations back to their ancestral paths, because she believes that Indigenous Stewardship of the land is the only way to ensure the planet’s survival. She will speak about Dartmouth Deeds, land stewardship and post Philip's War Pocassets.

Ellie Page is Tribal Historian for the Pocasset Tribe. Married to the Chief, she has worked on the history of the People of the Watuppa for 25 years. She has traced the genealogy and family ties of the tribe to the Pocasset Territory. 

She is retired from the School Department and Boys and Girls Club of Fall River where she taught the story of the Wampanoag with powwows and story times with exhibits. She continues bringing the Pocasset story to the public, with the message that “We Are Still Here.’’ She will outline the Page Genealogy from the 1600's to the present. She will also discuss the lineages of tribal members who lived in Dartmouth and are listed in the Briggs Report. 

Donna Raindance Page is the teacher of Woman’s Medicine for the Tribe. The Chief’s daughter, she has been involved with the Tribe all her life. She sat on the Council and was part of the Tribal delegation visiting Congress and the Bureau of Indian Affairs to place documents in Washington. 

She helped establish programs for the youth of the Tribe, such as visits to Plimouth Patuxet, Dighton Rock and Profile Rock. She also taught traditional dance to the young girls. She continues presenting the Pocasset Story to the general public. She will present contemporary Pocasset life, ongoing traditions, medicine, folklore and customs.

Light refreshments will be served, all are welcome, and a $5 donation is suggested.