Shinnecock Sign Sends Message To Halt Ancient Grave Desecration

SOUTHAMPTON, NY — A large electronic billboard erected by the Shinnecock Indian Nation on Sunrise Highway that has sparked outcry from some elected officials and residents is now illuminated as a symbol of the tribe's fight to protect its ancient ancestral burial grounds from development.

On Monday the sign read: "Stop Desecration of Shinnecock Hills," along with a photo of an ongoing protest that been ongoing since December, with members of the Shinnecock Indian Nation speaking out to halt the desecration of their ancestors' sacred burial site by a development given the green light by Southampton Town.

"We are able to get our message out there in a big way now on our tribal monument sign!" said Shinnecock Nation Vice President Lance Gumbs on Facebook. "Silent no more!"

For years, members of the Shinnecock Nation have cried out against development on their ancestral burial grounds; in 2018, at a site on Hawthorne Road in Shinnecock Hills, tribe members said an ancestor's grave was desecrated when a skull, bones, and 18th century glass bottle were unearthed during the construction of a home just minutes from the reservation.

The current protest, Gumbs said, was organized to raise awareness about "a new dig in the Hills that we should have been notified about. After the Hawthorne Road desecration there was a verbal commitment made to notify the Nation of any future disturbance in our scared Shinnecock Hills while work was being done to pass legislation that would protect our scared sites that have been listed on the Shinnecock Hills' sensitive site map with the town for years," he said.

After the remains were unearthed in 2018, Southampton Town closed on the purchase of property where the human remains were found last year; the Shinnecock Indian Nation raised an additional $50,000 for the restoration and preservation of the burial site, officials said.

And now, Gumbs said, another sacred ancestral burial ground is facing desecration. "This is one of the properties that was listed and was a priority for us to have the Community Preservation Fund try and buy and preserve," he said. "Obviously, once again, just like throughout our 400-year history, the words of the town leaders are meaningless when it come to keeping their promises to the Shinnecock Nation."

Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman responded Tuesday: "The Shinnecock people view this area as their ancestral burial grounds. The town has prioritized areas of Shinnecock Hills for preservation. We are working with the land owner and tribal leaders to resolve this matter."

According to Tela Troge, a member of the Shinnecock Nation who responded to questions about the protest, the gathering began recently at Sugar Loaf, located on Montauk Highway in Shinnecock Hills, and will continue until building and construction ceases.

"Sugar Loaf is a New York State and Town of Southampton designated critical environmental area," she said. "It is the site of Shinnecock's most sacred burial area in the Shinnecock Hills and the site of the Shinnecock Contact-era fort."

The parcel in question, 513 Montauk Highway, Troge said, lays directly in the CEA area. According to the building permit, plans call for a single family two-story residence with an attached three-car garage, porch, deck, fireplace and unfinished basement.

A Town & Country builder, whose sign is posted at the property, could not immediately be reached for comment.

"The developer is planning to build a two-story residential home on this sacred site and burial ground," she said. "The fact that the Town of Southampton authorized a subdivision and issued a building permit without consultation with the Shinnecock Nation shows that they are not respecting our interests in saving what's left of our sacred Shinnecock Hills — and particularly Sugar Loaf Hill," Troje said.

The Nation is working closely with the Southampton Town Attorney and the Community Preservation Fund Director to preserve the site and save what's left, she added.

Others spoke out in protest against the development. "It is in the nature of the Native American to resolve issues of conflict peacefully, from incidents like Wounded Knee to the more recent protests at the Dakota Access Pipeline," said Bryan Downey, who has photographed the Shinnecock tribe in recent years. "I've been working with Indigenous People for over six years now and forever supportive of their voice alone being enough to make an impact on this Nation. The Shinnecock will not change their ways, no more than we will change ours. In a perfect world, a Native development consultant should be involved in every excavation in the Southampton Township area. The consultant will or will not give the green light for that particular project."

The Shinnecock tribe's fight to protect their sacred burial sites was the focus of a recent PBS documentary, "Conscience Point."

The Shinnecock Nation has also united in its mission to erect the sign on Sunrise Highway — the electronic billboard, they said, will serve as a critical economic generator — which some residents and elected officials have called an eyesore. After the sign was erected last year, the New York State Supreme Court issued a temporary restraining order.

The Shinnecock Indian Nation issued a release in response, stating that they would fight the state's "illegal legal action to stop" the development project.