Evan Pritchard, a man of Mi’Kmaq descent, is living in the Hudson Valley’s Munsee Territory.

He’s a professor that has taught native history at Marist, Pace and Vassar.

Aside from literature and history, Evan leans on the community that built him to continue their legacy.

“This is the flute that Tiokasin made for me, it’s a very beautiful flute,” he said. “You know, I’ve found it makes bird calls in the key of the birds.”

As a self-taught flutist, Evan says he’s always tried to stay authentic to the music of his ancestors.

“We’re Mi’Kmaq people,” he said. "We improvise. I can talk about places, names, history and dates, but it doesn’t give you a feel for the culture and certainly not the spirituality of the people and that’s very important to me.”

Although home to native tribes for centuries, the historic signs around High Falls don’t note anything of importance until after colonial settlement.

Evan knows otherwise.

“This history is still really exciting in the Hudson Valley,” he said. “This trail was most certainly a trail to the council fire spot, and I don’t think it’s been improved too much. As they say, improved means one thing in native culture and one in European.”

Just a 5-minute walk past the hydroelectric dam to the Lower Falls and you’re time traveling back to the 1600s. Evan found the locations when researching history in the area.

“This is what I take to be the council fire spot of Momma Nook-Wei,” he said.

With the falls in the background, Evans believes Munsee Chief Momma Nook-Wei led many meetings here. It’s a flat space surrounded by rocks that have been fashioned into seats, where tribe members built the land.

“See, you’ve got these 12,000 years here of native history where we didn’t screw everything up and we kept the Earth looking healthy, and then you’ve got 500 years that gets all the attention, so that seems a little out of whack,” he said.