Brewster Ladies' Library Darius Coombs Presentation - 13 Moons - History of Wampanoag

Darius Coombs is a proud father of 4 girls and has been married to his loving wife Toodie for close to 20 years. He is also a Mashpee Wampanoag tribal citizen and is the Cultural Outreach Coordinator for the Mashpee Wampanoag Education Department. Darius is the former Director of the Wampanoag Indigenous Program at Plimoth/Patuxet Museums for over 30 years. Over his career Darius has worked with Smithsonian, History Channel, National Geographic, and Scholastic to name a few. His teaching of Wampanoag and other Indigenous cultures in the history of the northeast is recognized throughout the country. He has presented at conferences, colleges, historical societies, museums, indigenous institutes, and all grades and levels of learning in North America. Darius is also the recipient of the 2016 NEMA (New England Museum Association) Award for Excellence and the 2021 Bay State Legacy ward.

Darius is also a master mishoon (canoe) builder and instructor. He has led up to making over 50 mishoonash’s in his career. These boats range in sizes from a one man 9 foot canoe to a mishoon of 50 foot in length that could hold 20 men. Darius has also been invoiced and headed many historic mishoon paddles with various indigenous nations of the north east. These paddles include “Mishoon trip to the Vineyard” a You Tube Video, “Sacred Paddle to Deer Island,“ “Mystic River Paddles with the Pequot Museum,” and “Little Compton Sakonnet Paddle” to name a few. Darius has also completed 2 documentaries on mishoon creation. These are named “Paddling through History” Google and “The Nantucket Historical Mishoon Project.” As we state this has always been a love and will continue to be thru education of all folks.

This program is offered in partnership with the Brewster Historical Society. More information here: https://www.brewsterhistoricalsociety.org/brewster-historical-society-calendar/2025/11/1/13-moons-history-of-wampanoag