Yarmouth adopted a land acknowledgement June 26, recognizing the Wabanaki people and their connection and stewardship to the land on which the town was built.

“It’s a meaningful step toward fostering understanding and respect for our region’s history and its original inhabitants,” said Councilor Heather Abbott earlier this year.

The statement acknowledges that the land today known as Yarmouth was previously known as Westcustogo by the Abenaki and other tribes of the modern Wabanaki Confederacy, who remain present in the community as caretakers for the land. It also acknowledges that the Wabanaki people suffered on the land under colonial powers.

The statement additionally reads: “Let us respectfully acknowledge and act on this significant history and let us give thanks to the Indigenous people past and present for their stewardship and resilience. As a community, let us appreciate the current beauty that exists here and recognize that the social, health, and other benefits we appreciate are derived from these unceded ancestral lands of indigenous people.”

While this is the first land acknowledgement issued by the town, land acknowledgements have been in other materials associated with Yarmouth, including in the Comprehensive Plan that was approved in 2024 and posted in several outdoor locations.

Where and how the town’s land acknowledgement will be displayed is still under consideration by town staff. The statement may be posted at locations including Town Hall, the town website, and town parks and trails.

The language of the land acknowledgement, described as a “living document,” was compiled from other statements created by the Yarmouth Community Alliance for Racial Equity and Yarmouth’s Parks and Lands Committee and in the Yarmouth 2024 Comprehensive Plan. Councilors Abbott, Zoe Wolf and David Craig brought the proposed statement to the council in January after being approached by community members and YCARE about acknowledging the Wabanaki history and presence in Yarmouth.

“Land acknowledgements are an important part of a larger conversation about land stewardship, our history, and our ongoing responsibility for each other and our environment,” Wolf said in January.

Last November, the federal government recognized the Wabanaki name “Pumgustuck” for the first waterfall on the Royal River in Yarmouth after YCARE reached out to the U.S. Board of Geographic Names to rename the waterfall to its first name. The falls are now labeled Pumgustuck on federal maps and in U.S. Geological Survey databases.

When the Yarmouth Town Council voted to endorse the statement on June 26, they discussed that it should not be a passive document, but a call for Yarmouth residents to further educate themselves on the Indigenous history and presence in their town. Linked in the land acknowledgement are resources for more information on Wabanaki history and culture.

“This shouldn’t just be something symbolic. It should be action-oriented, and holding our feet to the fire about that,” Craig said on Thursday.