SHREWSBURY, Mass. - On the shores of Lake Quinsigamond, an ongoing project by members of the Hassanamisco Nipmuc Band is reviving old traditions and teaching the surrounding community an important lesson about their ancestors’ history in the region.

Remaining on-site for an entire week near the Oak Island boat ramp in Shrewsbury, the tribe is building a traditional dugout canoe called a mishoon. Troy Running Wolf Phillips said it’s not the work itself that’s been weighing heavy on his mind, however, but the location.

“To be able to do it right where our ancestors were, that’s the important part,” Phillips said. “Freely. I haven’t been on this land ever…Not one Nipmuc has property here on this waterway. This was our main waterway. It’s a shame.”

The Nipmuc people were once spread throughout what is now Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island. Deep under Lake Quinsigamond, several hundred feet from where Phillips and the tribe have been hard at work slowly burning a 14-foot long white pine tree and shaping it into a mishoon, reminders of their ancestors’ lives in the region remain to this day.

Three mishoons were discovered in 2001 at the bottom of Lake Quinsigamond, weighed down by rocks. Cheryl Stedtler, also a member of the Hassanamisco Nipmuc Band, said they’ve been carbon dated to the 1640s. She called it one of the most significant archeological sites New England.

“The two that are on the Worcester side are perfectly preserved, just as our ancestors left them,” Stedtler said. “It's a very rare instance. The rocks are still in them. They're fragile. The wood is like a wet sponge because it's waterlogged, but they are perfectly intact and the conditions down there are what's preserving it.”

Stedtler played a large role in discovering the mishoons, and is currently the director of ‘Project Mishoon,’ which has worked to preserve and celebrate these artifacts since they were first discovered more than 20 years ago.

Now, as she takes part in the process of building a new one, she said her heart is full.

“Our community gathers here all during the week, we share food, we share stories, we share songs, we work together on it,” Stedtler said. “It's not just making something that our ancestors made. We’re still carrying this forward, and although you know you may not see us dressed in regalia and all this, its just another one of those traditions that we carry forward in honor of our ancestors, and to teach our children so they don't lose it as well.”

Phillips, meanwhile, said working together with younger members of the Hassanamisco Nipmuc Band has put the project into perspective.

As he works, shaping the charred birch tree into a mishoon with rocks and shells, he’s been thinking about his two young grandchildren. He feels a sense of pride witnessing the mishoon burn again.

“I’m honored to be able to do this for them, maybe their future is better than mine was,” Phillips said. “You know, I grew up good. I really had a good life. I grew up in a good town. But it was tough just to be a Native person. It's a slow process to be who we are… But the great thing is to tell you that we're still here. We've always been here, and we're going to continue to do this even if it is a struggle. That's part of it.”

Phillips expects the mishoon to be completed by Saturday, when the Hassanamisco Nipmuc Band will invite the public, community tribes and elected leaders to visit the site as they bring the mishoon out on to the water.

Once there, they will sing songs, pray, and celebrate their ancestors.