The buried truth of Peacehaven!

Posted by Ric Oliveira on Jan 24, 2012 in Blog Posts, Ric's Rants | 11 comments

It is not just the bones and history of the region that is buried in that outcrop of land between Fall River and Freetown known as Peacehaven. Buried above ground is the truth.

To find it you have to turn the clock back almost three years.

When the young mayor  of Fall River, William Flanagan, wanted to put an Indian casino on land previously reserved for a Umass Bio Manufacturing Park, an  uproar ensued.

On that project, State Sen. Michael Rodrigues, at the time a state representative, had previously submitted language in the original land exchange creating the Bio Park, banning any use of it for a landfill or a casino.

When the project died a fateful death at the hands of a court- which upheld the land restrictions against a casino- few wished to challenge the ruling any further. Rodrigues looked like a great environmentalist or was he?

No, not really!

A makeshift bench on the Peacehaven site

The now infamous Peacehaven/ Meditech issue has some of the same players but now they are fighting from the other side.

Literally,  across the highway from the BioPark, lays an area of land long-sought by environmentalists for protection. It is a land drenched in history and lore. It was the sight where people spoke the Algonquin language in what appears to be a long-standing village dating back at least 6,000 years.  It was also the site of the Indian Ferry across the Taunton River, and in its last years of documented habitation,   the place where the legendary Wampanoag Queen of the Pocasset, Weetamo resided and washed at the  cold running spring at the base of a rare Glacial esker.   

It was also there that she was brutally disembodied. Her head taken to the Taunton Green and left perched on a post. Her body is believed to have been buried at Peacehaven.

The site is among the oldest in the state, a true gem in historical terms.

It was more than a year ago,  that Meditech met with local environmentalist groups and announced a deal for the land.

They were purchasing it from a controversial Rhode Island developer who was somehow involved in the FBI bust of three corrupt City councilors in North Providence. He found plenty of allies for his new land plans in Fall River.

Still, environmentalists were happy as Meditech agreed to oblige by the rules governing properties on the Massachusetts Historic Commission’s Inventory. The company also agreed to give 120 acres of the 138 acres to the Trustees of Reservations, to protect forever. The Trustees take undeveloped land and place it into trust so that it remains preserved. They have 13,000 acres of permanently preserved land abutting the site.

Then, last June, the bottom fell out on the deal.

Meditech claims that the Mass Historic Commission was upping the ante on the protections and they were balking. The State agency implied in a letter to Meditech that their plan to have construction workers look for bones was unacceptable.

Meditech then put out a release saying that Mass Historic was requiring that Meditech dig five feet down on 21 acres on the site, something Mass Historic has denied in writing.  Meditech has never provided proof that this request was ever made.

Then,  State Sen. Rodrigues went on WSAR radio and said that the concern was that the land was an Indian “summer camp.”

Of course,  what he did not tell the listeners was that the Peacehaven site had been archeologically examined, although only a tiny fraction of the site, and scientist found artifacts dating back 6,000 years. It must have been a hell of a long summer!

Rodrigues was then joined in the outrage by the local Chamber of Commerce which began a campaign to pressure the Mass Historic Commission to release its findings on the site. It did not.

Then the arguments became bitter and caustic. The proponents of the Meditech project took great pains to never mention that the site was on the Historic inventory of Mass Historic,  but rather that it was not on the register. It was the kind of parsing of the facts that turns an honest person’s stomach or makes for grey space to wiggle.

Then they began with the vitriol. At some point, Indian culture and history became a citywide political punching bag.

“We need jobs not tomahawks,” became a refrain among vocal supporters.

They denied that Indians ever lived there, made fun of them, and exhibited the maturity of a two year old in a candy factory while disparaging a culture which looks greatly upon honor and has a deep connection to the land.

All of a sudden it became, acceptable for Indian culture and the city’s own history to be ripped apart as useless, as a “liberal protection” as part of an overreach by a rogue Boston agency.

“We should just grab some shovels and start digging it up ourselves,” said one vocal proponent on the air with the Chamber CEO.

How low can Fall River go?

Yes, the city’s education levels are among the lowest in the state and its unemployment levels among the highest… it seems forever.

With no shame, some of the same people who had fought vociferously against the Wampanoag Casino project over land restrictions where leading the fight against the land restrictions on this Meditech project. It was head-spinning.

Few dared to question their logic. Those that did question it were attacked and those who could have stopped the attacks let them happen and let falsehoods stand without challenge.

They made claims that this was about jobs. Yes, 800 jobs are said to be at stake for the Meditech project but 3000 to 5000 jobs were at stake in the casino debate. Yes, 3000 is more than 800!

Soon the Chamber and other forces in the city began making almost weekly arguments which avoided the central issue of the property being listed on the Mass Historic’s Inventory. By keeping this out of the discussion, they succeeded in making Mass Historic, Secretary of State William Galvin and those in the community trying to get to the bottom of the issue, villains. In some cases, the actions and inactions of the proponents fed their own public tarring. Galvin has still to address the local media.

This is about when it got ugly for me.

Complete disclosure!

Chamber went after my morning radio job after  I shot a short private email voicing my sarcastic displeasure over the ” digging” comment.It was highly sarcastic and wry, but not phallic in any way.  The real reason, I was targeted that day was  my morning radio show.  That morning, I had done the unthinkable. I actually interviewed a Professor. Bridgewater State College Professor Curtis Hoffman had studied the Peacehaven archeological findings and compiled the archeological report on the site. He came on the air spoke about the history of the site, the inventory and how science had already learned information about the tool-making abilities of early Americans, that they had not expected to find.

It changed our view of how early man fished, he said.  To date, no one else in the local media has bothered to interview him nor anyone involved with the first dig at Peacehaven.

In the meanwhile,  many of the arguments made by proponents began to take shape. They said the land was developed previously and should not be protected.  Kenneth Fiola, of the Fall River Office of Economic Development, stated emphatically that the land was barren of artifacts and picked over. It had been completely developed, he argued .

No, not really. Only a small portion of it as described in the 1980 Freetown report or the highly vaunted Commuter rail report. Both projects discuss Peacehaven. The Commuter Rail report describes the area’s protections. How could the head of teh chamber and FROED, not know what was in the commuter rail project plan? Public record is such a bitch.

Still, the Chamber, a lobbying body,  published letters and offered on-air editorials offering many arguments and justifications for restrictions to be removed while also arguing the Mass Historic had no jurisdiction over this land.

They caused a comic ripple through my pants  when they offered that land was used as a pasture, implying somehow that cows can dig and now chew on bones. The farmer and his occasional helper who worked those lands, are still very much alive. And while he never found any artifacts, he only worked the very top of the soil in the grassy filed just off the shoreline.

I have worked in Fall River for twenty years and I am still  amazed at how some of the political forces will use the public’s  education levels to achieve their political objectives.

Proponents  ignored the Freetown reports talking about the need to preserve that land. They ignored the role of the Trustees of Reservations in seeking out the land.

The truth in Fall River has been lost along a new trail of enlightenment tears.

We were  told Meditech needed an answer quickly to make some deadline. That was in September.

So Rodrigues introduced a bill in the Senate co-sponsored in the House by State Rep. David Sullivan to strip MHC’s jurisdiction over the properties on its inventory and restrict their jurisdiction just to properties on the registry.

Initially, it went nowhere moving from committee to committee without finding a home.  So, after the ugly local debate continued for months locally, Meditech said in December that it was pulling out of the plan.

Now it looks like they were just coiled under a rock awaiting a moment in the political sun.

It was a slick move. Rodrigues, with the help of Sen. Marc Pacheco of Taunton who cosponsored the bill, was able to slide the Meditech friendly language into the Senate Budget, meaning after it passed last week, it is  almost bullet-proof lock – as long as they can get it passed in the House.

On Tuesday of this week, the House held a hearing on the bill. More than 150 locals jumped onto a bus to testify. Scientists, educators Native Americans and locals also testified against the move in Boston. It was an ugly meeting with each side holdings its ground.

No matter how it is spun, the reality is that Meditech only wants the best property, at the best location, and under their conditions. Sadly, if that occurs it will happen at the cost of the truth and history. Jobs are at stake. So is Fall River’s soul!

You see much about Peace Haven remains unknown. Fall River could yet change American history.

How much trade occurred between the Natives of the Northeastern US there?

How much trade occurred between the Europeans and the Natives? And most importantly,  how early?

Did the builder of the fable and unexplained Newport Tower trade at Peacehaven? Probably not as some findings point to the 18th century. But there are still those who question it.

Was that suit of armor found on Hartwell Street  in the early 1800’s in Fall River, which Henry Longfellow wrote about,  related to Peacehaven somehow?

Did Portuguese explorer Miguel Cortreal really crash at Dighton Rock and settle at Peacehaven? Did his crew mix with the Pocassets or the Sakonnets?

What do all the stones with inscriptions on rocks in and around Peacehaven mean?

I know this kind of  quiz means little to some. I really wish there was  a plan that would bring 3000 to 5000 jobs to the city, you know  jobs that people who live in Fall River could actually qualify for, but…

I really wish that Meditech would still come here.

Yet, I don’t like what they have inspired in Fall River.

It’s gotten pretty crazy, like other times. You know, when people screamed and hollered and convinced themselves to  bury the Quequechan river even though it was once the power of  its mills. Or when someone convinced everyone to blow up  the waterfall that gave it its name and now, to dig up the village and bones of its original people. Oh the ironies!  Welcome to Fall River where we bury our waterfalls,  our cultures and never question why?

Ric Oliveira is Publisher of O Jornal