Opening from On This Site - Native Long Island

Pell Site

In 1997, the Pell case began, involving an attempt to steal Shinnecock Reservation land. On a strip of land south of Montauk Highway and the Tide Water Pub, the Shinnecock tribe successfully defended the land from being taken and developed. In 1996, a Shinnecock woman halted a bulldozer operating south of Montauk Highway, sparking a successful legal defense against the development of Shinnecock reservation land. This modern victory against encroachment demonstrates that the fight to protect Indigenous territory from colonial land grabs is not just a historical event, but an ongoing reality for Long Island's Native nations. 1996 Early one morning in October 1996, Doreen Dennis-Arrindell, Shinnecock , heard the sound of a bulldozer through the trees near her home. She gathered her ten-month-old granddaughter, Keynu, and rushed to the scene where she discovered a bulldozer knocking down...