Long before the first visitor stepped onto the shores of a beautiful “New World” there were vibrant communities of Indigenous people throughout the continent who had experienced centuries of culture, art, oral histories, language and traditions.

While colonization nearly destroyed many Native American tribes and their ways of life, numerous descendants of our country’s first communities have survived to honor their heritage and use it to guide their futures.

We are fortunate to have a number of museums in the region that share Indigenous history, artifacts, stories and traditions with the community. These venues teach us what the first people knew about humanity and the environment long before Europeans arrived.

We can learn about the rich history of the Pequots, Mohegans, Narragansetts, Niantics and other tribes of the Northeast through their own voices. These museums welcome all who wish to witness and appreciate the first cultures that inhabited the places we call home and learn about the status of these tribes today.

“We want the public to know that we are still here,” says Lorén M. Spears, executive director of Tomaquag Museum in Exeter, Rhode Island. This small but award-winning museum focuses on the Indigenous history of the Northeast, highlighting the Narragansett and Niantic peoples. It is also mindful of the present and future.

“We are a vibrant community that contributes in diverse ways to modern society,” Spears says. “We want people to know about our heroes, like Ellison ‘Tarzan’ Brown of the Narragansett Nation, who not only impacted the Indigenous community but impacted the world as an elite athlete who won the Boston Marathon twice and was a named Olympian twice. We want the public to learn from the many stories that make us who we are today. This includes difficult stories, such as the impact of conquest and colonization, as well as uplifting stories of our leaders, culture bearers and artists who pass on traditional knowledge for future generations.”

The Tomaquag Museum was founded in 1958 by Mary E. Glasko, known as Princess Red Wing, with the help of friend and colleague, anthropologist Eva Butler.

Butler provided a collection of Indigenous artifacts and the original location of the museum in her home in Tomaquag Valley. Princess Red Wing offered cultural knowledge and a first-person perspective. Since its founding, Tomaquag changed locations, encountered and overcame challenges, and grew in numerous ways. In 2016 it was awarded the National Medal for Museum and Library Service, the nation’s highest honor for service to the community.

The museum’s collection includes items ranging from more than 5,000 years old, including wampum, baskets and more, to modern pieces and exhibits by contemporary Indigenous artists.

Guided group tours can be tailored to themes such as nature, games, art and more.

“We share historical, cultural, ecological and contemporary knowledge of our communities from a first-person perspective. Museum guests learn not only our history, but about our communities as contemporary Indigenous people who walk in two worlds, balancing our traditional knowledge with 21st-century life,” says Spears.

Tomaquag Museum is located at 390A Summit Road in Exeter, Rhode Island, and is open to the public Wednesdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Private tours may be booked in advance by calling 401-491-9063, tomaquagmuseum.org.

The Tantaquidgeon Museum in Uncasville is the country’s oldest native-owned and operated museum, having celebrated its 90th anniversary last year. Founded in 1931 by Mohegan John Tantaquidgeon and his children Harold and Gladys, the museum’s mission is to showcase eastern woodland Indian artifacts dating back to the 17th century.

“Here we preserve those artifacts and share them with the public to provide a visual element to our historical narrative,” says Operations Manager Stacy Dufresne. “Visitors have traveled here from around the world to experience the spirit of the Mohegans and the beauty of Native America.”

Harold Tantaquidgeon, one of the founders, believed that “You can’t hate someone that you know a lot about,” says Dufresne. His sister and co-founder Gladys, a Mohegan medicine woman and Ivy League-educated anthropologist, shared his philosophy: “Education is the best cure for prejudice,” says Dufresne, quoting Gladys Tantaquidgeon.

“Our collection contains some of the oldest cultural objects that remain in Mohegan hands,” says Dufresne. “These are treasures passed down through generations, not recent replicas. They include artifacts that date back to the time of Uncas in the 1600s. People view these items as they learn how the tribe lived before European arrival and how we adapted after.”

Displays include traditional regalia worn by leaders of the Mohegan, splint baskets decorated with woodland designs, hand-carved bowls and utensils, mortars and pestles used to grind corn, and more.

“As a museum dedicated to providing Mohegan history to the community, we offer free admission to all, provide outreach opportunities to those unable to visit, and host numerous school groups,” Dufresne says.

The museum, a three-room stone structure, sits on “Mohegan Hill,” surrounded by a stockade fence where visitors will find a dugout canoe, garden mounds and two bark-covered wigwams.

The Tantaquidgeon Museum is open Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and offers free admission and tours conducted by Mohegan tribal members. Groups of six or more are by appointment; call 860-235-8057. Park at the Mohegan Cultural Preservation Center on 1 Church Lane, Uncasville; the museum is just across the street, mohegan.nsn.us/explore/museum.

An impressive modern facility of glass and steel designed to embrace the surrounding natural landscape, the Mashantucket Pequot Museum & Research Center has been tribally owned and operated since opening in 1998.

The 300,000-square-foot complex includes 85,000 square feet of permanent, indoor exhibitions plus temporary exhibit space, classrooms, an auditorium, restaurant and museum shop.

Multisensory, life-sized dioramas and exhibits offer the cultural history of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe and the natural history of their home, the eastern woodlands. Films, videos, interactive programs, archival materials, artifacts, commissioned art and traditional crafts by Native artisans are also featured in exhibits.

“Our mission is to strengthen Pequot culture to honor our family and friends,” says Executive Director Joshua Carter. “We provide a valuable facet of the documented history of the Northeast plus insight and understanding of the ways of our ancestors, which helps us to better understand who we are. Guests and tribal community members can learn about an Indigenous way of life, still alive today, that centers on the interdependence of the land, ocean, plants, animals, people and the intent to provide for future generations.”

To Carter, the museum honors both ancestors and the environment.

“We aim to show that none of what we think we have is ours but we are responsible for stewarding land and resources for the benefit of our grandchildren,” says Carter. “It is important for our identity as Pequot people and also so we can become ancestors worth descending from.” He hopes as visitors hear the Pequot story, they will recognize that they also are inseparable from the environment and will “be encouraged to become ‘indigenous’ to the place they call home,” he says.

“Many feel that being from a different culture and community highlights our differences, but it’s our differences that provide a beautiful opportunity to learn from one another,” says Carter.

The Meesumôk Neetôp program (which means “Giving Friend”) allows the museum’s programs, services and workshops to be purchased and donated to a school or class of the giver’s choice. This sponsorship program coincides with a recent state Board of Education mandate to include Native American history in public school curriculums.

Located at 110 Pequot Trail, Mashantucket, the Mashantucket Pequot Museum & Research Center is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Wednesday to Saturday. Admission ranges from $13 to $22 with group rates for 10 or more people, pequotmuseum.org.

The Old Mystic History Center in Mystic, formerly known as the Indian & Colonial Research Center, contains the works of Eva Lutz Butler (1897-1969), noted local historian, educator and anthropologist, who over 50 years collected a wide range of Indigenous, colonial and genealogical materials. The center has maintained Butler’s original research collection since 1965, expanding it to include other primary source material plus recently donated Native American genealogies. The center assists in searches for accurate historical information for classroom instruction, family genealogies, museum exhibits and academic scholarship.

“People of different cultures and backgrounds come to our facility to trace their roots, discover their ancestors’ stories, and see their history come alive by spending a quiet afternoon in our historic Mystic National Bank building,” according to the center. oldmystichistory.org.

The Institute for American Indian Studies in the small Litchfield County town of Washington, was incorporated in 1975 “to recover New England’s then-largely-unknown indigenous history.” The museum is located on 15 acres of woodlands, with trails, gardens and a 16th-century Algonkian village replica. Open Wednesday to Sunday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., it offers exhibits, events, education, archaeology, research opportunities and more. iaismuseum.org.