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Pakachoag: Where the River Bends

This Holy Cross documentary tells the story of the Nipmuc land in and around Worcester, Massachusetts, including the campus of the College of the Holy Cross. It covers Nipmuc/settler relations pre-settlement to today.

Film Premiere & Discussion

Wednesday, November 10, 2021

Learn about the Nipmuc people and their stewardship of the land, water, and animal relations with whom we share this place. With this new lens on Holy Cross and the College Hill neighborhood, how can we best acknowledge the indigenous experience of our campus? Featuring an introduction by Holy Cross President Vincent Rougeau and followed by discussion moderated by Sarah Luria, Professor of Professor of English/Environmental Studies, with:

• Fred Freeman, Chairperson of the Nipmuk Cultural Preservation, Inc.
• Colin Novick, Executive Director of the Greater Worcester Land Trust
• Thomas Doughton, Senior Lecturer of the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies at Holy Cross
• Jack Hynick '22, Holy Cross student
• Ian Kaloyanides, Digital Media Services Coordinator at Holy Cross
• Sarah Klotz, Assistant Professor of Rhetoric and English at Holy Cross

Watch the screening and discussion online.

Holy Cross resides on Pakachoag Hill, part of the traditional lands of the Nipmuc people. We are grateful for their historic and ongoing stewardship of the land, water, and animal relations with whom we share this place.

Learn more.

This series explores past and contemporary Indian/New England/U.S. relations in conjunction with the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the Mayflower at Plymouth, Massachusetts.

Learn more and watch video.

This project, by the students in Prof. Sarah Luria's Montserrat Seminar 111N in Spring 2020, tells stories about the different communities who have lived on the land where Holy Cross resides and the ways they have changed this hill. With fanciful composite images of "then and now," their goal is to create an experience of ”double vision” — to see the past when looking at the present.

View the Graphic Guide.