Opening from On This Site - Native Long Island

Unkechaug Indian Reservation

The Unkechaug Indian Nation is a Native nation recognized by New York State and centered on the Poospatuck Reservation along Poospatuck Creek in Mastic. The reservation is a continuing homeland where Unkechaug people maintain government, community, language work, and relationships with land and water. Poospatuck is a living Unkechaug homeland and seat of government, not a remnant of a disappeared people. Its history connects land defense, state law, family continuity, language revitalization, and present-day Native sovereignty on Long Island. The Unkechaug Indian Nation has maintained a community at Poospatuck on the Mastic Peninsula through centuries of land pressure and outside attempts to deny Native identity. New York law recognizes the Poospatuck (Unkechauge) Indian Nation, while federal agencies do not currently list the Nation as federally recognized. 1 When English settlement...