Mattapoisett board pushes for town seal that's politically—and historically—correct
SouthCoastToday.com
By DON CUDDY
Standard Times staff writer
August 22, 2007
MATTAPOISETT — The Indian's headdress is wrong. The boat looks like Noah's Ark. And where are the mountains in Mattapoisett? Mattapoisett's town seal is one of disapproval.
When Town Meeting voted to create the seal in 1901, little did town fathers realize more than 100 years later it wouldn't pass an accuracy test.
The seal's shortcomings came up in the wake of town's sesquicentennial celebration.
Selectmen took a look at it recently and decided they want a new one, however, that requires Town Meeting approval.
The current seal depicts a Native American wearing the war bonnet headdress of a Great Plains Indian chief alongside a ship under construction.
"The seal is not historically or politically correct," Selectman Stephen Lombard said. "We would like it to reflect what a Wampanoag chief would actually be wearing."
According to Selectman Ray Andrews, the headdress could be that of a Sioux or other Great Plains Indian.
"It is not appropriate to show a Native American from the Algonquin nation or a Wampanoag wearing a headdress down to the ground," he said.
Stewart Turner, a Wampanoag who took part in the town's sesquicentennial parade in Native American dress, said he was upset at reaction from one parade watcher about his outfit.
He overheard a bystander say, "He's not even wearing a headdress."
"This is not a costume," he told onlookers at the time.
Mr. Turner told The Standard-Times he hopes the seal can be improved.
"It would be great if they could change it," he said. "It needs a lot of help. He's wearing a war bonnet and a buffalo skin shirt. It's so stereotypical. He's even holding the bow the wrong way. If he put an arrow in there he'd shoot himself."
Changing the seal would require a vote at Town Meeting, according to Mattapoisett Town Clerk Barbara A. Sullivan. "That's what my records indicate, but we've sent it to town counsel to be certain," she said.
The seal has been in use for "several generations," Ms. Sullivan said. "There are no plans to redesign it. I expect that the changes will be small."
At the 1901 Town Meeting, Article 3 voted that "a committee of one be chosen to procure a seal for the town." George H. Dexter, the town clerk, became that committee.
The town report from 1901 shows that $11.80 was paid under incidental expenses to a Mortimer Searles for producing the seal.
Mr. Andrews has asked local artist Anthony Days to examine the seal and create an alternative that can be presented to the town for consideration, Ms. Sullivan said.
At Plimouth Plantation, Wampanoag artisan Hartman Deetz, who reproduces artifacts there, said a Wampanoag chieftain would not have worn a headdress as a badge of rank.
"Our people used a black wolfskin to distinguish a chief, and that would have been worn across the shoulders or around the body," he said. "There was some distinctive headgear used by the Wampanoag. Fighting men wore a roche, which resembled a halo, on the back of the head, and deer antlers were reserved for spiritual ceremonies."
However, Mr. Deetz questioned why Mattapoisett wished to continue depicting a Native American on its seal.
"As far as I know, that hasn't been a Native American community in a long time," he said. "So maybe that's the question that they should be asking."
Seth Mendell, president of the Mattapoisett Historical Society, and an acknowledged expert on the town's maritime heritage, was also critical of the curious vessel shown propped up on a beach on the town seal that, he said, resembled boats used on the great rivers of the Pacific Northwest.
"We need to get rid of that riverboat," he said. "It has a house on the stern. The yards here built whalers and clipper ships. We need something with masts and rigging."
Contact Don Cuddy at doncuddy@s-t.com.