- [Jonathan] It's prominent throughout our stories, our artwork, our way of connecting to the living world, our language, our dances, everything is reflective of that place and of that relationship that we have with the sea.

(ads thudding) - [Pamela] Jonathan James-Perry is a master mishoon maker.

A mishoon is a dugout canoe crafted from a single massive tree trunk.

James Perry is also an artist, singer, Native American educator and tribal leader of the Aquinnah people in the Wampanoag nation.

- Wampanoag means People of the Dawn or People of the First Light, and it has to do with the fact that we're the most Eastern native people and you know, it's rooting and grounding to the Earth, because we are not central to the place, but more so the place is central to us.

- [Pamela] The Wampanoags were the first Native Americans to interact with the Mayflower pilgrims, and they're accredited with helping the Europeans survive that first brutal winter.

While Wampanoags comprise eastern woodland tribes, they are also a seafaring people.

With their mishoons, they enlightened the pilgrims about the endless bounty of the ocean.

- We come from people who made vessels and whaled in the sea and shell fished and fished and utilized the edible sea grass or the seaweeds and such for our food.

When you think of clam bake culture, that's certainly a big part of our feast and gathering times on the beaches.

- So, these vessels were vital to a village?

- Dugout canoes were as vital to Wampanoag people as I would say your cars and trucks are today.

- [Pamela] James Perry, who also hand makes paddles for use and for symbolic art, says mishoons were essential for transporting goods, for trade, for recreational water sports, and much more.

- We were traveling, we were using them for political and governmental actions between nations.

We were using them in military conflicts.

We polled, paddled, and sailed our vessels for thousands of years.

- [Pamela] And for an estimated 13,000 years, Little Compton was homeland to the Wampanoags.

In acknowledgement of that, the little Compton Historical Society is marking the town's 350th anniversary with the creation of a mishoon.

James Perry says, "Sharing his heritage with the community helps counter centuries of attempts to erase Native American culture."

- These traditions, these practices, these connections to our ancient place and to our ancestors is something that is in our blood and our bones.

It's really important to me to see these teachings be passed down.

- [Pamela] And James Perry says, "It's equally important for tribes people to be visible."

- To have annual connections to places, to have landowners and townspeople and town councils and state leadership and federal leadership understand that we as a people need to maintain these practices or they're gone forever.

- [Pamela] Turning the mammoth white pine log into a canoe begins with a blessing, a smudge of sage and sweetgrass in a cohog shell.

- I want to acknowledge our relatives and ancestors who are in the ground, water, trees, and stone here.

- [Pamela] The primary tool for hollowing out the mishoon is unique.

It is sculpted by fire.

- Ultimately, the fire is what does most of the carving, and you scrape charcoal and you do occasional moving of the hot coals and material so you can even out uneven areas of burn or thin the sidewalls of the canoe or get just the right shape.

- How do you know that you're making it to be seaworthy, that it's going to be, like you said, light and right in the water.

- There's a process of looking and watching the burn and making sure the sides are even.

fire brings about change, and that change can be a beautiful and powerful and positive thing.

- [Pamela] As the smoke rises, the community is offered a better understanding of Wampanoag ways.

- And one thing to remember is in like a sort of a native approach to things.

You're not creating something that isn't there already.

You're releasing it, right?

You're just helping to be what it already is.

It's just a constant burn 24 hours a day from start to finish.

- [Pamela] At a night burn, Wampanoag tradition holds that the hands-free method of sculpting allows the tribe time to feast, tell stories, and share music.

(somber flute music) Musician Rashid Young is from the Mashantucket Pequot tribe.

(audience applauding) Jonathan James-Perry says he's thankful for the townspeople who have gathered.

- I'm also celebrating the fact that Wampanoag people, Narragansett people, Nipmuc people, Pequot people, and so on, we're still walking this Earth.

We are working on our languages, we're working on traditional techniques and artistry, and we're still singing our songs.

(upbeat tribal music) - [Pamela] Beating a water drum, James Perry is accompanied by his family on rattles and rhythm sticks as they perform a moccasin dance song.

After the festivities, the fire in the mishoon is managed.

The crew removes hot coals in preparation for the final formation of the canoe over the next few days.

(upbeat tribal music) (audience applauding) The mishoon evolved during a month long process.

This tool an ads is used for the last shaping of the canoe.

The shell of the mishoon is torched creating a blackened, watertight seal.

Then the first leg of a mishoon's voyage begins.

- [Speaker] It's coming.

- [Pamela] Meanwhile, a crowd congregates at Lloyd's Beach on Sakonnet Point.

As they waited, members of several tribes hiked to nearby Squant Rock.

It's believed to embody the legendary woman who protects paddlers making ocean journeys.

James Perry says, "This was a major component of the mishoon project."

- Re-establishing our relationship with Squant Rock and getting back to the ceremony and the connection to that space, because that's on private land, other people, whether they realize it or not, whether it's inadvertent or not, are now caretakers of a sacred space that we have held for thousands of years, and it is now up to them to have a relationship with us and to be good stewards of that place.

- [Pamela] Finally, the mishoon's moment on the tide arrives.

Several Little Compton residents pitched in with the Wampanoag crew to launch the dugout canoe.

And on this morning, the People of the First Light smoothly paddled out, voyaging in a seaworthy mishoon.

- Just this idea that you sculpted this from a living tree, it sacrificed itself for you to make this vessel that will then carry you forward.

Every time that paddle touched the water, it was so powerful and I felt like I was with my ancestors, with my people doing something that was just so vitally important and that feeling will never go away.

(tribe members singing in native language) - [Jonathan] Things are cyclical, and there are times when things are taken away, and then there are times and opportunities where things can heal.