About the Author
Mary Ellen Lepionka of Gloucester is an independent scholar researching the Indigenous history of Essex County from the last Ice Age to around 1700 for a book on the subject. Some chapters have been published on capeannhistory.org. Mary Ellen is a retired college instructor, textbook developer, author, and publisher with a Master’s degree in anthropology from Boston University and post-graduate work at the University of British Columbia. She taught cultural and physical anthropology and world history at Boston University, Vancouver City College, Northeastern University, North Shore Community College, and Salem State College. She participated in salvage archaeology on Great Neck in Ipswich, excavated an Early Iron Age Bantu refuge site in Botswana, and conducted fieldwork in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Mary Ellen also had a career in higher education publishing as a developmental editor of college textbooks. Her book, Writing and Developing Your College Textbook, has been published in a third edition and as an online course by the Text and Academic Authors Association. Articles by Mary Ellen on local Indigenous history appear in the Bulletin of the Massachusetts Archaeological Society, the Journal of the New England Antiquities Research Association, historicipswich.org, enduringgloucester.com, and capeannslavery.org. Some of her slide lectures on Indigenous peoples of Essex County, Massachusetts, have links to their publications or have been posted on You Tube. Contact Mary Ellen at melepionka at comcast dot net.
INDEX OF WORKS by Mary Ellen Lepionka
Articles in the Bulletin of the Massachusetts Archaeological Society
(Free downloads accessible via key word search on Lepionka at: https://vc.bridgew.edu/do/search/?q=&start=0&context=12398681&facet=at)
Fall 2013. 74 (2): 45-92. Unpublished papers on Cape Ann Prehistory.
Spring 2015. 76 (1): 27-42. Evidence of a Native American Solar Observatory on Sunset Hill in Gloucester (with Mark Carlotto).
Spring 2017. 78 (1): 28-40. Algonquian Shellfish Industries on Cape Ann.
Fall 2017. 78 (2): 60-70. Speck in Riverview.
Spring 2018. 79 (1): 11-21. Maritime Archaics in Essex Bay: The Saville and Ellis Collections.
Fall 2018. 79 (2): 65-74. Ancient Pottery from Cape Ann, Essex, and Ipswich, Massachusetts.
Spring-Fall 2020. 81 (1-2): 65-90. Native Agricultural Villages in Essex County: Archaeological and Ethnohistorical Evidence.
Spring-Fall 2022. 83: Predictive Models for Locating Inland and Coastal Villages in Northern Essex and Middlesex Counties, Massachusetts (with Timothy Gondola).
Articles in the Journal of the New England Antiquities Research Association
2021 Making Sense of Human Migration to the Americas, NEARA Journal (Journal of the New England Antiquities Research Association) 54 (1): 22-45.
2022 Spirit Rocks of Cape Ann Part I, NEARA Journal 54 (2): 22-40.
2023 Spirit Rocks of Cape Ann Part II, NEARA Journal 55 (2): 21-39.
Papers Presented
11/18/14 Evidence of a Native Solar Observatory in Gloucester, MA (Paper presented at a meeting of the North Shore Chapter of the Massachusetts Archaeological Society, Andover MA)
2016 Not on the Map: The Archaeology of Cape Ann (Presentation at a chapter meeting of the Massachusetts Archaeological Society, Worcester MA)
11/3/17 “Ye Names of Ye Rivers”: The Case for Wanaskwiwam (Paper presented at the 2017 annual meeting of the Eastern States Archaeological Federation, New London CT)
11/11/17 A Native Ceremonial Landscape at Pole Hill, Gloucester, MA (Paper presented at the 2017 annual meeting of the New England Antiquities Research Association, Warwick RI)
4/7/18 Champlain and the Indians: A Drama in 3 Acts (Paper presented at a chapter meeting of the Massachusetts Archaeological Society, Worcester MA)
11/17/18 Some Native Stone Quarries and Mines in Essex County, Massachusetts (Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Massachusetts Archaeological Society, Middleborough MA)
4/13/19 Champlain and the Indians: A Drama in 3 Acts (Paper presented at the 2019 Annual meeting of the Massachusetts Archaeological Society, Middleborough MA)
4/24/19 Un-Erasing Native American History in Massachusetts (Paper presented at the annual Conference of the Massachusetts History Alliance, Worcester MA)
5/3/19 Some Native Stone Quarries and Mines in Essex County, Massachusetts (Paper presented at a conference of the New England Antiquities Research Association, North Stonington CT)
11/5/19 Not by Beringia Alone: A Case for Trans-Arctic Migration to the Americas (Paper presented at the annual meeting of the New England Antiquities Research Association, Warwick RI): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6QEb2YdFdo
11/6/21 Spirit Rocks of Cape Ann (Paper presented at the annual meeting of the New England Antiquities Research Association via Zoom): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1uLF3JklRM.
Published Essays on the Archaeology and Indigenous History of Cape Ann in Local Blogs:
Enduring Gloucester (enduringgloucester.com)
10/31/16 Reckoning Time
5/25/17 Wingawecheek: The Story of a Name
6/13/17 “Ye Names of Ye Rivers” – The Story of Wanaskwiwam, an Indian Village in Riverview
7/10/17 Pole Hill – A Ceremonial Landscape
7/20/17 The Wanaskwiwam Villagers – Where Did They Go?
9/24/17 About the Indians – Why Didn’t We Know?
11/7/17 Appropriations of Native Identity – Pocahontas and the Last Wampanoag
11/13/17 1644 – A Turning Point in Cape Ann History
2/14/18 The Settlement of Cape Ann: What Is the Real Story?
3/14/18 How Did Gloucester’s Founding Shape Its Future?
5/21/18 “Very Fine Cypresses” (Part 5 of The Colonists and Indian Land)
5/22/18 “Portugal Hath Had Many a Mouthful” (Part 6 of Colonists and Indian Land)
[Parts 1 – 4 of The Colonists and Indian Land were published by Historic Ipswich.]
Historic Ipswich (historicipswich.org)
6/7/14 Who Were the Agawam Indians Really?
3/6/17 Living Descendants [of Cape Ann’s Indigenous people]
1/16/18 The Cape Ann Vikings
1/21/18 Native American Influence on English Fashions
2/8/18 Manitou in Context
2/19/18 “That We May Avoid the Least Scrupulo of Intrusion” – Part 1, The Colonists and Indian Land
2/21/18 “Brought to Civility” – The Colonists and Indian Land, Part 2
2/25/18 “Disorder in the Corn Fields” – The Colonists and Indian Land, Part 3
2/27/18 The Tragedy of the Wilderness – The Colonists and Indian land, Part 4
8/6/20 Ancient Prejudice against “the Indians” Persists in Essex County Today
5/24/22 The Story Behind the Story of Wigwam Hill
Roger Conant 400 (conant400.blogspot.com/)
12/3/19 Roger Conant on Cape Ann: Part 1 – The Dorchester Company
2/11/20 Roger Conant on Cape Ann: Part 2 – The Rescue Party
2/18/20 Roger Conant on Cape Ann: Part 3 – Conant at Naumkeag and Salem Village
Interviews and Other
3/1/19 Chocorua – Home of the Water Serpent? From “Chocorua Redux: Revisionist History of a Name”, Chocorua Lake Conservancy Newsletter: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5c6c20254d8711284e8b9a6b/t/5d0bee26d7c9fe00010ea0ac/1561062950571/Chocorua+Redux.pdf.
2019 “What’s in a Name” series on Algonquian place names in Essex County, for 1623 Studios (local cable television, on You Tube).
2/27/20 Erasure: The Forgotten Native History of Cape Ann and Manchester-by-the-Sea. The Cricket: https://www.thecricket.com/out_and_about/erasure-the-forgotten-nativeamerican-history-of-cape-ann-and-manchester-by-the-sea/article_9b357d90-58c3-11ea-aae0-27f67f601c9f.html.
5/28/20 Fish Brook: A Pawtucket Canoe Route, Voiceovers for a video for the Fish Brook Conservation Committee, Topsfield MA.
11/2/20 “Pawtucket People: Natives of the North Shore”, Raising Your Inner Voice, with Jay Foss, North Shore 104.9 Radio: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/19-pawtucket-people-natives-of-the-north-shore/id1521602325?i=1000497802972
3/9/21 Their History is Our History: Native Americans on Cape Ann. The Gillnetter, Mila Barry, ed.: https://thegillnetter.com/10830/features/their-history-is-our-history-native-americans-on-cape-ann/
8/22/22 “The Morning Show” Interview on the Indigenous history of Essex County, with Mary Jacobson, Newburyport Cable Television: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uh4_EDEtVOk, https://soundcloud.com/ncmhub/morning-show-with-mary-jacobsen-september-15-2022-mary-ellen-lepionka
3/22 Paragraphs on the Indigenous history of properties in the Essex County Greenbelt Association Land Trust (https://ecga.org/).
10/22 Indigenous History of Places with [Cape Ann] Babson Connections, Babson Historical Association: https://babsonassoc.org/babson-indigenous-history/.
March-April, 2022 6-week course, Exploring the Indigenous History of Byfield, Governor’s Academy, (Byfield MA)
Websites
2017-2023 capeannhistory.org (Chapters for a forthcoming book, Indigenous History of Essex County from the last Ice Age to 1700)
2019-2020 Cape Ann Slavery and Abolition (capeannslavery.org) co-authored with Stephanie Buck for the Cape Ann Slavery and Abolition Trust.
Slide Lectures
2012 Pawtucket Settlements at Time of Contact: The Case for an Algonquian village on Cape Ann (Annisquam Historical Society, Gloucester MA)
2013 Prehistory of Cape Ann (Gloucester High School)
Cape Ann Indian Trails and Landscapes (Cape Ann Trail Stewards, Gloucester MA)
2014 Erasure: How Cape Ann Indians Got Written out of Existence (Gloucester Writers Center, Gloucester MA)
Treasures of the Annisquam Historical Museum (Annisquam Historical Society, Gloucester MA)
Not on the Map: The Archaeology of Cape Ann (Annisquam Historical Society, Gloucester MA)
Cape Ann Before Columbus (Gloucester High School, Gloucester MA)
Wigwams on Jeffrey’s Creek: Let’s Set the Record Straight (Manchester Historical Museum, Manchester MA)
Prehistory of Cape Ann (Sandy Bay Historical Society, King St., Rockport)
American Indians Lived Here: They Are Part of Our History (O’Maley Innovation Middle School, Gloucester MA)
Ancient Artisans of Cape Ann (Cape Ann Museum, Gloucester MA)
6/7/14 The Archaeology of Dogtown (Gloucester Writers Center, Gloucester MA)
10/26/14 The Allyn Cox Reservation and Clam House Landing: The Archaeology of a Historic and Pre-Contact Site in Essex, Mass. (Essex County Greenbelt Association, Essex MA)
2015 Preserving Gloucester History: Treasures in Annisquam (Presentation to the Awesome Gloucester Foundation)
Awesome Dogtown: Cape Ann’s Premier Historical, Cultural and Natural Resource (Gloucester Historical commission, Gloucester MA)
10/7/15 A Native American Solar Observatory at Pole Hill (Endicott College, Beverly MA)
11/15/15 Masconomet’s People in the Contact Period (Essex Historical Society and Shipbuilding Museum, Essex MA)
Gloucester’s Happening History (Presentation to the Cape Ann Rotary Club, Gloucester MA)
Native Americans on Cape Ann Before the Contact Period (Daughters of the American Revolution, Gloucester MA)
4/12/16 Native Americans on Cape Ann During the Contact Period (Daughters of the American Revolution, Gloucester MA)
11/5/16 Cape Ann’s First People (O’Maley Innovation Middle School, Gloucester MA)
11/8/16 Native Americans on Cape Ann After the Contact Period (Daughters of the American Revolution, Gloucester MA)
12/8/16 The Archaeological Method (Glen Urquhart School, Beverly MA)
2017 Artists in Dogtown (Gloucester Historical Commission)
Prehistory of Cape Ann (Rockport High School)
Algonquian Places: What’s in a Name? (Rockport High School)
1/13/17 First Peoples of the Ipswich River Watershed (Ipswich River Watershed Association and the Ipswich Historical Society, Ipswich MA)
1/16/17 Cape Ann Algonquians’ First Encounter with Samuel de Champlain (MLK Day, Gloucester Meetinghouse Foundation, Gloucester MA)
1/27/17 Algonquians on the Ipswich River (Ipswich River Watershed Association and the Ipswich Historical Society, Ascension Memorial Church, Ipswich MA)
5/22/17 A Native American Village, Solar Observatory, and Ceremonial Landscape in Gloucester, MA (Beverly Library, Beverly MA)
5/24/2017 Wigwams on Jeffrey’s Creek (Brookwood School, Manchester MA)
6/20/17 First Peoples of Coastal Northern Essex County (Friends of the Parker River Wildlife Refuge, Newburyport MA)
10/12/17 Middleton in Masconomet’s Time (Middleton Historical Society, Middleton MA)
10/15/17 The Archaeology of Dogtown (Friends of Dogtown, Gloucester MA)
11/10/17 Topsfield in Masconomet’s Time (Topsfield Historical Society, Topsfield MA)
1/15/18 Pawtucket of Cape Ann in Colonial Times (MLK Day, Gloucester Meetinghouse Foundation, Gloucester MA)
1/18/18 Native Americans on the North Shore (Salem Explorer’s Club, Salem State University)
3/19/18 Algonquians on the Parker River and Plum Island (Friends of Parker River National Wildlife Refuge, Newburyport MA): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYwrOegpz9k
4/9/18 Ancient Artisans of the Parker River Watershed (Friends of the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge, Newburyport MA): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pg8R3FXeUus
4/14/18 Hamilton in Masconomet’s Time (Hamilton Historical Society, Hamilton-Wenham Library, Hamilton MA)
4/21/18 Gloucester Before 1900: Before Gloucester! (Cape Ann Museum, Gloucester MA)
5/24/18 North Reading in Masconomet’s Time (North Reading Historical and Antiquarian Society, North Reading MA)
6/27/18 Native Americans on Cape Ann (Rose Baker Senior Center, Gloucester MA)
7/18/18 Native Americans on the North Shore: Last Ice Age to the Contact Period (Explorers Lifelong Learning Institute of Salem State University, Salem MA)
7/29/18 Native American on the North Shore: Masconomet’s Time (Explorers Lifelong Learning Institute of Salem State University, Salem MA)
8/11/18 Algonquians of Old Newbury in the Contact Period (Sons and Daughters of Old Newbury, Newbury MA)
9/18/18 Native Americans of the Saco and Merrimack (Chocorua Lake Conservancy, Tamworth NH)
10/9/18 Algonquians on the Shawsheen and the Merrimack (Spade and Trowel Garden Club of Andover, Andover MA)
10/10/18 Native Americans on the North Shore in the Contact Period (Peabody Historical Society and Museum, Washington St., Peabody MA)
11/8/18 Native Americans on the Great Marsh (Great Marsh Symposium of the Essex County Greenbelt Association, Essex MA)
11/13/18 Algonquian Foodways and Medicinal Plants (North Shore Horticultural Society, Manchester MA)
1/15/19 Pawtucket of Cape Ann in Colonial Times (MLK Day, Gloucester Meetinghouse Foundation, Gloucester MA)
3/3/19 Algonquians of the Lower Merrimack Valley (Newburyport Public Library, Newburyport MA)
7/17/19 Algonquian Lifeways in the Lakes Region (Chocorua Conservancy, Tamworth NH)
10/25/19 Archaeology (Glen Urquhart School, Beverly MA)
11/24/19 Gloucester’s First Hundred Years: “The Indians Who Live Among Us” (Committee for Gloucester’s 400th, Meetinghouse, Gloucester MA)
2020 A Native Village in Riverview (Riverview Neighborhood Assn., Gloucester)
Algonquian Foodways and Medicinal Plants (Gloucester Lyceum and Sawyer Free Library, Gloucester MA): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ir_RApGuJjU
1/15/20 Pennacook at Brooks (Brooks School, North Andover MA)
2/10/20 Salem’s Indigenous People between 3000 BP and the Present (Explorers Lifelong Learning Institute of Salem State University, Salem MA)
2/20/20 Wigwams on Sawmill Brook: Honoring the 375th Anniversary of Manchester-by-the-Sea (Manchester Historical Museum, Manchester MA): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ll782Kuas8
9/14/20 Algonquian Foodways and Medicinal Plants (Rockport Garden Club, Rockport)
11/12/20 Beverly’s Indigenous People (Montserrat College of Art, Beverly MA): https://youtu.be/rGdas9z3vis
4/8/21 Frontyard Growers: Algonquian Gardeners of Cape Ann (Backyard Growers, Gloucester MA)
5/21 Pawtucket on Plum Island Sound: The Moorehead Archaeological Survey (Friends of the Parker River Wildlife Refuge, Newburyport MA)
7/19/21 Rowley’s First People (Solstice Day School, Rowley MA)
10/2/21 Indigenous History of Choate Island and the Crane Estate, part 1 (Trustees of Reservations, Ipswich MA)
11/16/21 Indigenous History of Choate Island and the Crane Estate, part 2 (Trustees of Reservations, Ipswich MA)
11/18/21 Indigenous Peoples on the Castle Neck River (Essex County Greenbelt Association, Ipswich MA)
11/18/21 Indigenous Peoples of Ipswich (Ipswich Public Library, Ipswich MA)
1/22/22 History of Salt Island (Gloucester Lyceum and Sawyer Free Library, Gloucester MA)
1/26/22 Indigenous Peoples of Salem (Explorer’s Club, Salem MA)
3/24/22 Indigenous Peoples on Plum Island Sound (Friends of the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge, Newburyport MA)
4/9/22 Indigenous History of Essex County (Cape Ann Daughters of the American Revolution, Gloucester MA)
4/20/22 Indigenous Presence in Manchester-By-the-Sea (Manchester Historical Society and Museum, Manchester MA)
7/14/22 Indigenous Peoples of Ipswich (Ipswich Lyceum, Ipswich MA)
7/28/22 Indigenous Peoples of Sandy Bay (Sandy Bay Historical Society, Rockport MA)
7/20/22 Indigenous Peoples of Danvers (Danvers Historical Society, Danvers MA): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAOqSvGg6hA1kyLx9pRitbQ/videos.
8/17/22 King Philip’s War: What Is the Real Story? (Salem State University Explorers Club, Salem MA): https://salemstate.zoom.us/rec/share/yOqt6aQaVSOygSqzYj_1kkor1nrDNKTcoT_7Rd6PuGjrK1pm7GcpLgYsZ2GDKCM.SGofWo1cmwHFpnJx
8/24/22 Algqonquian Foodways and Medicinal Plants (Ipswich Library, Ipswich MA)
9/10/22 Archaeology and Indigenous History of Dogtown (Jonathan Bayliss Society, Windhover, Gloucester MA)
9/28/22 Wigwam Hill and Five Indigenous Families with Ties to Ipswich (Parker River Wildlife Association, Newburyport MA, via Zoom)
10/16/22 Algonquian Spiritual Beliefs (First Universalist Church, Essex MA)
10/18/22 Indigenous Peoples of Rowley (Rowley MA Council on Aging)
10/20/22 Indigenous Peoples of Swampscott (Swampscott Historical Commission, Swampscott Historical Society, Swampscott Public Library)
10/24/22 Wigwams at Brookwood (Brookwood School, Manchester MA)
10/26/22 The History of Good Harbor (Town Green, Gloucester MA)
11/7/22 Indigenous Peoples of Beverly (Turtle Woods and Turtle Creek, Beverly MA)
11/17/22 Indigenous Peoples of Hamilton (Hamilton MA Council on Aging)
1/18/23 Indigenous Peoples of Manchester-by-the Sea (Manchester Rotary Club)
3/21/23 Selections from Indigenous History of Cape Ann (Writer’s Room, Boston MA, via Zoom)
5/9/23 “The Indians Who Live Among Us”: Gloucester Selectmen’s Minutes, 1682, 1684 (Hammond Castle Museum, in association with Gloucester 400)