Skowhegan wigwam

An exhibit titled “Wabanaki Voices: Connecting Past, Present, Future” has opened at the Skowhegan History House. The museum received a $7,000 grant from the Davis Family Foundation, which designates funds primarily to Maine-based educational, medical and cultural/arts organizations. The exhibit is a partnership with the Wabanaki confederation, the Skowhegan Free Public Library and Regional School Unit 54 educators to promote understanding of and appreciation for Native Amercian culture. Contributed photo

SKOWHEGAN — As a way to preserve the town’s legacy, the Skowhegan History House has opened a two-year exhibit that offers authentic views of Native American history, territory, culture and art.

To help fund the “Wabanaki Voices: Connecting Past, Present, Future” exhibit, the museum has received a $7,000 grant from the Davis Family Foundation, which designates funds primarily to Maine-based educational, medical and cultural/arts organizations.

The museum has partnered with members of the Wabanaki confederation, the Skowhegan Free Public Library and Regional School Unit 54 educators to build and present Wabanaki Voices by way of exhibits, presentations, programs and speakers.

The exhibit is being implemented in phases. It began July 13 with a $5,000 grant from Maine Community Foundation.

Barry Dana, the former Penobscot chief and artisan, and apprentice Nathan Dana worked with nine local students to construct a 10-foot wigwam, which was completed July 17 and sits on the west lawn of the History House.

The wigwam area will be used as a venue for exhibits “when it becomes safe once again to engage the community and History House.”

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“Our overall goal for the ‘Wabanaki Voices: Connecting Past, Present, Future’ exhibit is to offer our communities an opportunity to gain a wider understanding and appreciation for our first residents and their descendants,” said Patricia Horine, president and board of trustees member for the History House.

“The first phase — building a wigwam — offers an opportunity for students to work side by side with a Penobscot artisan.”

Indigenous people lived in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, the Maritimes and Quebec for at least 13,000 years prior to the arrival of Europeans in the 17th century, who came to live on Wabanaki territory year-round, according to Horine.

Maine has four federally recognized sovereign Indian tribes: Maliseet, Micmac, Passamaquoddy and Penobscot. The Wabanaki are known as “People of the Dawnland.”

Miles Lambke, a senior at Skowhegan Area High School, was one of the students who participated in the four-day project at the History House, a nonprofit museum and research center that works to preserve historic collections and the town’s heritage.

“We worked for about three hours a day, and a lot of the tasks that you end up doing to prep pieces for the wigwam easily allow for social distancing,” Lambke said. “It was really interesting, because it’s surprisingly simple. The first step involves taking saplings that are still wet and then bend them and tie them together.”

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Doing that creates a hemisphere-like shape, he said, which creates the frame. From there, he and his peers worked together to sew birch bark sheets together, which were then covered in ash saplings.

“We had a lot of hands. About eight of us worked together,” Lambke said. “The simplicity of it was the biggest takeaway. It was very cool to do something like that and realizing that if you needed to, it is totally within anyone’s grasp.”

Lambke said Barry and Nathan Dana were encouraging as instructors, who taught about different cultures.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, most of the planned activities, speakers and programs have been postponed to a later date. More information can be found on the Skowhegan History House Facebook page.

“If anyone gets the opportunity to do something like this, I highly recommend it,” Lambke said. “Take the opportunity to learn about different cultures. Learning about Barry’s philosophy and different cultures was very neat.”

Barry Dana could not be reached Sunday for comment.


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