The Capital Region’s Original Residents Return For The First Time

Before this land was the United States of America, it was home to thousands of native tribes. Here in the Capital Region of New York, the Stockbridge-Munsee Mohican were the original inhabitants.

The tribe was pushed out of their land in the Hudson River Valley in the 18th century, and have resided in Wisconsin for the past century and a half, but they've finally returned to Upstate New York.

The First Annual Homelands PowWow

On October fourth and fifth of 2025, the Stockbridge-Munsee Mohican returned to their ancestral homeland for the first time in over 150 years. This event, founded by tribal members and allies across the northeast, is meant to provide a spiritual homecoming for tribal members who have never returned to their roots.

The event took place in New Lebanon, New York, just a 45 minute drive from the Capital region of the state. For decades, celebration of the Mohican culture was illegal in the area, making this event a rejuvenation of a culture that has been taken advantage of for years.

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The History of the Mohicans

Initially, the Stockbridge-Munsee Mohicans hailed from Western Massachusetts. In the mid 1780s, they migrated to the Hudson Valley of New York to form a new community based upon Christianity.

Unfortunately, tensions rose with white settlers of the area, and the tribe realized they needed a new home. So, in 1817, two families left the Hudson and headed west in hopes of finding a new home in Indiana. After discovering the land they had hoped to acquire had also been sold to white settlers, they moved onto Green Bay, Wisconsin, where they found the land they occupy today.