Photo From Native and Himalayan Views
(Charlemont, MA) The 20 foot high statue at the former ‘Big Indian’ store on Route 2 in Charlemont, now Native and Himalayan Views, has been taken down and is on it’s way to a new location in Oklahoma. The Hi-Way Cafe announced on their social media Friday that they had purchased the statue for their store in Vinita, Oklahoma.
The statue stood for almost fifty years on the Mohawk Trail, but had recently become to subject of controversy when an online petition started by Tomantha Sylvester who wrote “Our area (Western and Central Massachusetts) is full of historical inaccuracies, stereotypes, and cultural appropriation. One of the most egregious offenses remains ‘The Big Indian’ statue,” gained over 1,300 signatures calling for its removal.
The new owners of Native and Himalayan Views had announced in January of 2022 that they were looking at redesigning the statue after “conversations [they] have had with [their] Native American neighbors.”