Thunder Mountain members Lisa Deemy, Mollie Eliot and Pat Selinger review drawings for the proposed turtle-shaped Lenape cultural center. Photo by: Lisa Richardson/The Dispatch
NOWRYTOWN–A turtle of mythic proportions soon could be overlooking the Kiskiminetas River near Saltsburg.
But it won’t be a Japanese monster movie come to life. It will be the realization of a dream envisioned by members of the locally based Thunder Mountain Lenape Nation.
The non-profit group of ancestral and adopted Native American families is unveiling plans today for a proposed $3 million museum/cultural center which will be constructed in the shape of a turtle–one of the central animal figures in Lenape spiritual traditions.
The center is to be located on property the group is purchasing near the Conemaugh Township village of Nowrytown.
Working with a Native American architect from Texas and a contractor from Chicago, World Wide Domes, Thunder Mountain members explain the body of the turtle would be represented by a large two-story dome housing a central 750-seat auditorium and a balcony level containing offices and a library.
Mollie Eliot, a Thunder Mountain council member, noted, “The turtle’s head will be the entrance, and each of its rounded feet will be a separate area.”
Appearing as the turtle’s feet would be four attached single-story domes, providing room for a gift shop, a kitchen/snack bar and museum galleries portraying Lenape life both past and present.
While exact dimensions have yet to be determined, Eliot said the new building would dwarf an initial cultural center Thunder Mountain developed in a park building at the Conemaugh Dam near Tunnelton.
At the new facility, she said, “We’ll be able to have changing museum exhibits,” while expanding on the educational and cultural outreach programs the group currently offers through school visits and workshops at Saltsburg’s Salt Center community center.
The facility also would be made available to community organizations for performances or conferences.
Artist’s renderings of the proposed Lenape Nation center and examples of colorful painted story poles and silk banners–some of the results of Thunder Mountain’s cultural activities–will be displayed from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. today in the Indiana County Courthouse Annex at 827 Water St., Indiana.
Formal presentations will be offered on the half hour, from 11:30 a.m. through 3:30 p.m.
The cultural center would be the nucleus of Thunder Mountain’s planned Native American heritage complex, which also would include a living history village replicating the wigwams of the Lenape and traditional dwellings associated with other Native American groups.
Presenters in period dress would welcome visitors to the village during summer months.
“We’ll add dwellings from as many other indigenous cultures around the country as we can,” Eliot said.
She added, “Once the facility is developed, we’re expecting it’s going to be a regional anchor for heritage tourism.”
She pointed out studies indicate those who visit an area due to an interest in local history and culture tend to leave more money behind them than the average tourist.
Thunder Mountain members are planning for their new dome home to nestle into the upper slope of a 200-acre portion of rural land which stretches from Conemaugh Township’s Skyline Drive down to the banks of the Kiskiminetas River, about two miles north of Saltsburg.
It’s the same site where the group held its fourth annual Native American festival and pow wow last August–relocating from the Conemaugh Dam park due to heightened security concerns there following the previous Sept. 11.
Thunder Mountain’s longer range goals for the new property include environmental education and wildlife conservation study programs, archeological digs, development of a summer camp and a wellness center which would address diabetes and other prominent health concerns for those of Native American heritage.
Pat Selinger, Thunder Mountain’s Turtle Clan Mother, noted plans for a museum and living village had always been in the group’s thoughts.
But the fallout from Sept. 11 seems to have put the ambitious projects on a faster track than they’d thought possible.
“It made us realize we were not going to be able to expand (near the dam) and it was time for us to move along,” she said. “It forced us to reach out and partner even more than we had.”
In addition to establishing a relationship with officials who operate the Salt Center, Selinger noted Thunder Mountain has been working with Indiana County’s commissioners and planning office to refine plans for the Nowrytown site and pursue funding opportunities.
With help from the planning office staff, she noted, “We now have a five-year strategic plan in place on paper.”
Also, with support from the commissioners, the group has had $1.5 million provisionally earmarked in the state capital budget to help with development of the cultural center.
That money could cover nearly half of the building’s cost, though Eliot noted Thunder Mountain still would have to compete for the state dollars while also coming up with matching funds.
The United States Department of Agriculture’s rural community development division is among other major funding sources the Lenape group may be able to tap.
Proceeds from the Salt Center workshops, school programs and the annual pow wows also will be devoted toward development of the Nowrytown heritage site.
In addition, Thunder Mountain members are hoping Conemaugh Township will be able to pave Skyline Drive, which currently is a dirt road.
Indiana County has made a practice of sharing some of its annual liquid fuels allocations from the state with local townships for road improvement projects.Chairman Bernie Smith said the commissioners are “very supportive” of Thunder Mountain’s plans, citing the group’s determination and the project’s potential for enhancing economic development.
“They believe in what they’re doing and they get in there and work,” Smith said of the small group, which includes about 10 families.
He noted the cultural center “would be a destination point, another reason why people from outside our county would come to the Saltsburg area.”
Selinger noted Thunder Mountain also would like to work with the Conemaugh Valley Conservancy, which is developing a recreational trail through the Saltsburg area. If a trail spur can be extended to the Nowrytown site, it would provide a welcoming link between the Lenape cultural offerings there and later canal-era history sites which attract visitors to downtown Saltsburg.
Not least in assisting the Thunder Mountain cause have been the Topper family, which owns the Nowrytown site, and other neighbors who have pitched in to help the group make use of the undeveloped site.
According to Eliot, the Toppers were looking for a buyer who would preserve the natural charm of their land, which combines open fields, wooded areas and riverfront access.
Eliot said, “It was fortuitous that we met them. They felt their priorities were a good match with what we wanted to use the land for–environmental education.”
Still, the Thunder Mountain group has to tame the land enough to allow access to its activities.
When preparing the site for last summer’s pow wow, Eliot noted, “Volunteers were coming out of the woodwork. We’ve had so much support from the community.”
Selinger recalled, “When our equipment broke down, we were there with scythes trying to clear the field. Then neighbors started showing up with tractors and lawn mowers.”
The Nowrytown site consist of three adjoining parcels, including two former railroad beds.
Selinger explained the cultural center is slated for construction on the upper end of the land, to avoid any flooding potential. Separated by a rail line is a lower, flatter area where Thunder Mountain plans to hold its fifth annual pow wow and festival, Aug. 16 and 17.
She noted an added benefit of the new festival site will be more convenient public access–following routes 981 and 156 through Avonmore and across the Kiskiminetas River.
During a visioning exercise, when Thunder Mountain members were asked to draw their concept of the proposed new center, “There were only two people who didn’t draw a turtle-shaped building,” Eliot noted.
She explained the significance of the turtle in Lenape creation stories: “The earth was formed on the back of a turtle, and the continent is considered to be a turtle.
“The turtle is considered the oldest and wisest of all the animals. Of the three clans in Lenape society, the turtle clan is the oldest and largest.”
While the Thunder Mountain group has yet to complete a feasibility study and final design for the center, Eliot cited several aesthetic touches being considered to further incorporate Lenape culture into the architecture. Options include cascading water near the entrance and depicting on the roof the 13 scales which make up a turtle’s shell.
Eliot noted the group also is planning to incorporate “green technology.” She cited plans for a parking lot which would be surfaced with a mesh material, allowing grass to grow through in areas which aren’t needed for vehicles.
“When you want it to be a parking lot again, you just mow it,” she explained.
This summer, Selinger said, the Thunder Mountain group is hoping to complete an environmental study of its new site, identifying the wild species which inhabit it.
“As early as next fall, we’re hoping to have some outdoor programs at the property.”
Meanwhile, Thunder Mountain has scheduled about 24 school visits so far this year.
“That’s double the programming we had last year,” Selinger said. She credits a partnership the group has forged with the state Department of Environmental Protection.
Thunder Mountain members will take part along with the DEP in an Earth Day celebration, slated for noon to 5 p.m. April 27 in the Saint Vincent College gym near Latrobe.
Through one of its members–Marietta Dantonio-Fryer, an art professor at Cheyney University of Pennsylvania–Thunder Mountain became involved in the Totem Rhythms project.
Members carved and painted four totem-like story poles which portray images important to the Lenape Nation as a whole and to its three major clans: turtle, wolf and turkey. The group also guided young men who are serving time at the Cresson Secure Treatment Center in designing their own story pole.
Those poles have been displayed at the United Nations headquarters in New York and now will be displayed in Indiana County as Thunder Mountain’s contribution to the county’s bicentennial celebration.
Selinger said tentative plans call for the poles to be exhibited at IUP’s library.
Also displayed will be silk banners Thunder Mountain created for a program titled “Breaking Down The Walls of Bias, Prejudice And Stigma.” Those banners have traveled to the UN and to South Africa.
Upcoming workshops scheduled at the Salt Center in Saltsburg include: “Lenape History and Artifact Identification” with Archeologist Robin Van Auken, adjunct professor of Lycoming College, March 15; Lenape Culture and Spirituality April 12; “Plant Uses and Food”, May 3.
Two sessions on “Primitive Living Skills” are planned to take place in nearby Nowrytown May 10 & May 17.
The workshop series is geared toward adults, college and high school students. The cost of $35 includes lunch for pre-registered participants.
Pre-register by calling 724-459-5276 or emailing thundermountain@questpublish.com.
by: Jeff Himler
Read more: Lenape Clan Plans Cultural Center – Pittsburgh Tribune-Review http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/blairsvilledispatch/s_121010.html#ixzz1J9izEd9O
