Lucy Nicolar Poolaw

Lucy Nicolar Poolaw (June 22, 1882 – March 27, 1969), also called Wa-Tah-Wa-So and billed as Princess Watahwaso, was a Penobscot and a performer on the Chautauqua and lyceum circuits.

[6] Lucy Nicolar toured the United States using the stage name "Princess Watahwaso", on the Chautauqua and lyceum circuits beginning in 1916, singing songs, playing piano, telling stories, dancing, and wearing a fringed costume.

[10] Writing about her show in 1920, the New York Times commented that "Watahwaso's native and acquired gifts produced a degree of charm not often heard in primitive music.

"[11] Although it was presented as "primitive music", most of Princess Watahwaso's repertoire was written by non-Native composers, including Thurlow Lieurance and Charles Wakefield Cadman.

Once Penobscot people living on reservation land in Maine secured the right to vote in 1955, Lucy Nicolar Poolaw cast the first ballot.

The Poolaw's giftshop, renamed Princess Watahwaso's Teepee, is now a museum run by Lucy's nephew, Charles Norman Shay.