Edwin DeVries Vanderhoop

Early life Born in 1848, the son of Afro-Dutch Surinamese whaler William Adrian Vanderhoop and his Wampanoag wife Beulah Oocouch Saulsbury, Edwin grew up in Gay Head, Massachusetts with 8 brothers and sisters.

Career At the age of 16, Edwin joined the Union army naval division. Stationed on the USS Mahaska became the county commissioner of Dukes County, elected as a Republican representative in the state legislature, becoming the first Wampanoag to sit in the Legislature. In addition to politics, Vanderhoop was a hotel proprietor, running a hotel he built called the Aquinnah House. This nineteenroom hotel, located on a hill overlooking the ocean, accommodated visitors arriving via steam boat. After a while, the strong weather of the cliffs pushed it into disrepair and the house became known as the “Haunted House.”

In 1892, Vanderhoop was also listed as the clay agent for the town. In 1893, the clay from the Gay Head Cliffs was leased to the Gay Head Clay Company for $500 per year, with the clay to be shipped to kilns for brick manufacture.

Later in life, he was appointed Minister to Haiti by President Harrison.

Edwin DeVries Vanderhoop Homestead

In 1869 the Commonwealth of Massachusetts began the process of incorporating the town of Gay Head (as Aquinnah was called before 1998) by dividing the tribal lands among its members. Adrian Vanderhoop, Edwin's father, purchased one of the tracts defined by the state from tribal member William Morton in 1890 for $40, and immediately signed it over to his son. The other part Edwin received in the set off. Sometime between 1890 and 1897, Edwin Vanderhoop and family constructed a house on the property.

The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006.

It is now operated as a museum called the Aquinnah Cultural Center and features exhibits on Wampanoag tribal history and culture.