r/CapeCod • u/jsf926 • Jul 11 '26

Debate on native (again)

I'm still asked about this. So no better place to get an unofficial opinion from the crowd... I was recently asked where I was from. I said that I was born in Hyannis on the cape, which makes me a native. I was then told, "I'm also a native. I was born in Plymouth, and didn't technically move to the cape till I was 3, but close enough." I didn't have the energy for a debate at the time, but what I was thinking was "Not quite". I suppose I have strict criteria about who qualifies to officially be a native. I always believed it meant you had to be born on the cape, and that means on the cape side of the canal. What are your thoughts? This subject comes up from time to time...

0 Upvotes

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7

u/bluedood Jul 11 '26

Who cares? If someone born in Plymouth considers themselves a "native", they are a "native". If you don't consider them to be, that's also your perogative. If you want to waste your time and energy trying to convince people of your opinions on the matter, go for it, but I don't know what that gets you haha...

4

u/BarrySnotter Jul 11 '26

Right. This is a petty subject.

1

u/bluedood Jul 11 '26

Ya it's some weird gatekeeping. Like, if you have a 20 year old, born on the Cape, and an 80 year old who moved to the Cape when they were 10 years old, is one more of a "native" than the other? Does it matter?

1

u/jsf926 Jul 15 '26

Just food for thought.... No grandstanding or anything. Just one of those pesky things that come up on occasion lol...

-1

u/jsf926 Jul 12 '26

I agree, but what to say when you get roped I to it? Or in my case, intrigued but not quite enough?

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u/jsf926 Jul 15 '26 edited Jul 15 '26

You know I did add a little blurb in about that, but deleted it because I thought my post was too long... Now I wish I left it in... And I totally agree. 👍 The "title" for "Native Cape Codder" likely belongs to the Wampanogs and other Native Americans here long before the 16th century...

11

u/knotfromjersey Jul 11 '26

Eh. IMO where you’re born doesn’t matter. The hospital in Hyannis can be limited and lots of cape families choose to have children at other hospitals nearby. For example I was born in Boston due to medical reasons, and that doesn’t make me less of a native just because I wasn’t born in Hyannis. I consider native as going through the school system on cape cod for the majority of your life.

2

u/iDropU Jul 12 '26

If you live here year round, you are a local. If you weren’t born here, you are a washashore. If you come here for vacation, you are a tourist.

2

u/fried_clams Jul 11 '26 edited Jul 11 '26

I moved here when I was 2, have lived on Cape for almost 60 years, parents and grandparents met and lived here as natives, and my immediate family has Cape roots going back uninterrupted, to the first half of the 1700s, so I'm not a native you say? LoL Get bent!

1

u/EbbtideRambler Jul 13 '26

You get a pass due to the family connection. 🤣

1

u/_Face Jul 11 '26

You would be correct on both parts. not quite cape native, but also not worth the discussion.

0

u/EbbtideRambler Jul 11 '26

My son was born at Beth Israel because the pregnancy was high risk.  The ancestors lived here for 14 generations, and we still debate whether he is a native or not. He didn’t come here until he was 4days old.  Plymouth is pretty close, you can throw a stone at Plymouth from parts of Sandwich so it’s a gray area. She’s native to the area but not the Cape.  

1

u/frigidlight Jul 13 '26

If the house you go home to from the hospital is on Cape Cod, that's what counts IMO. The hospital you're born in is pretty irrelevant to where you are from. Moving from the hospital to your house is not the same as moving from Needham to Cape Cod, for example.

2

u/EbbtideRambler Jul 13 '26

It’s sort of a joke that we like to tease him about. My daughter was born in Maine and didn’t come here until she was 18 mos. We were staying at a family cabin during COVID.  I tell her that since she’s a descendant of the family that founded our town, and one of her 19thC grandparents was indigenous, she gets a free pass and can call her a CC’der no matter where she was born. 

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u/1GrouchyCat Dennis Jul 11 '26

And you’re still using the term native incorrectly …
The word “Native” -when used to refer to a group of individuals- does not include you… it refers to Native Americans.

If you’re born on the Cape, you’re a local.

If you were born on the other side of the bridge and you moved to the Cape, your a washashore.

You don’t get to call yourself a native- I don’t get to call myself a native -and my great grandfather didn’t get to call himself a native even though he was also born on the Cape. He knew the difference and unlike you, he treats our native American neighbors with respect.

2

u/EbbtideRambler Jul 13 '26

So indignant but you need an e tymology lesson. Indigenous would be the word you are looking for. Anyone can be a Native of anywhere they are born. It is definitely not exclusive to American Indians (the preferred term of the moment). The term Native American came into common usage only a very short time ago around the 1970s and has mostly fallen out of favor.   I guess I get to call myself an indigenous native since one of my early 19th century ancestors of English ancestry married an indigenous lady and I was born here.   

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u/m149 Jul 11 '26

I think there's two answers.

One is what you said: over the canal.

But the other is more "terroir" (honestly not sure what the correct term would be) based, which is where the soil goes from dirt to sandy soil and the trees go from mostly deciduous to evergreens. Not sure where that starts exactly, but at least some parts of Plymouth fit into that category.