The name Penobscot comes from panawahpskek, “the place of the white rocks” or “where the rocks widen.” The Penobscot Nation’s ancestral homeland is situated within the drainage area of the Penobscot River and its many tributaries, lakes, and ponds. The Nation’s primary village and seat of government, established on Indian Island, alenape meneha, is located immediately above Old Town Falls. By the 1830’s, the Penobscot Nation had been dispossessed of much of its aboriginal territory, retaining possession of the Penobscot River and its islands from Indian Island north. After the 1980 Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act, the Penobscot Nation’s territory grew to include 4,900 acres of reservation land and over 90,000 acres of trust land in nine locations throughout Maine. The Penobscot Nation was federally recognized in 1976 and has approximately 2,400 tribal members.