More specifically, each community had authority over a well-defined territory from which the people derived their livelihood through a seasonal round of fishing, planting, harvesting and hunting. Because southern New England was thickly populated at the time, hunting grounds had strictly defined boundaries, and were passed on from father to son.

The Wampanoag way of life fostered a harmonious relationship between the people and their natural environment, both physical and spiritual. Also, they respected the traditions and the elders of their nation. The work of making a living was organized on a family level. Families gathered together in the spring to fish, in early winter to hunt and in the summer they separated to cultivate individual planting fields. Boys were schooled in the way of the woods, where a man’s skill at hunting and ability to survive under all conditions were vital to his family’s well being. The women were trained from youth to work diligently in the fields and around the family wetu.

A ‘’wetu’’ was the round or oval Wampanoag wigwam. To build them, several posts were placed in the ground, then bent in over a fire and bound together at the top. They were covered on the outside by grass or bark and had an exit hole for smoke at the highest point. A summer house like this was designed so that it could be easily dismantled and moved in just a few hours.

The Wampanoag were organized into a confederation, where a head sachem presided over a number of other sachem. The English often referred to the sachem as king, a misleading concept, because the position of a sachem was in no way like that of a king and allowed only restricted authority and few privileges. It was traditional, that if there was a lack of appropriate male candidates, a woman could become a sachem.