Namassakeesett

white pine, mild steel,  4’ x 9’ x 50’

Namassakeesett translates“place of much fish” – a Wompanoag name for the headwaters of the North River of Southeastern Massachusetts.  When Europeans arrived to the New World, the river teamed with herring that were used for both food and fertilize.  

The river is an estuary and has many curves as it moves from upland meadows to the coast. Our house, built in 1693 by Cornet Stetson, is one of the oldest located on the North River.  The North River was central to the Massachusetts ship building in the 18th and 19th century and known as " the river that launched a 1000 ships".  Our house faces the river and continues to look much like it did when settled in the 17th century.  The Eastern White Pine is a dominant species in the Massachusetts forests, coveted for masts for ships by the King of England in the early years of the European migration to north America. The “pine tree” was depicted on the earliest Colonial coin in Massachusetts, minted in 1652 and known as the ‘pine tree shilling’.