Air Mail: The View from Here

Every summer weekend, thousands of visitors and locals alike inch eastward on Route 27 toward the eastern tip of Long Island, encountering what locals call the “Shinnecock Squeeze”—a legendary traffic bottleneck that occurs when the two lanes narrow, becoming one.

To most, it’s an irritation en route to the East End. Few realize they’re passing through an Indigenous nation.

“I could throw a stone and hit ‘Billionaires’ Row,’” Rebecca Genia says, gesturing toward Meadow Lane, the oceanfront strip adjacent to the plot she and her ancestors have long called home. Genia’s two-bedroom home is built on land owned by the Shinnecock Indian Nation. Fifteen years ago, the Shinnecocks became the 565th federally recognized tribe.