September,
2008
The
third annual Indian Day at Tusculum View Elementary School in
Greeneville on September 18th was a great success. More than 200
fourth graders from the city school system toured the stations and
enjoyed the dance program.
At one station, Mark explained the role of men in 18th century Cherokee
society. At another station, Sherry told the children about the
lives of 18th century Cherokee women. Elizabeth Cahill, a
graduate student in anthropology, let the children practice grinding
corn and using a primitive drill. At another station, the
children visited with Lowery Begay and enjoyed flute music and
stories. The fifth stop was an opportunity to make some crafts.
The dance program in the middle of the day was a big hit with the
audience, children and teachers alike. Nikki Crisp performed the
jingle dance; Johnathan Crisp did the fancy dance; Ben Sanchez did some
of the singing and drumming as well as the grass dance. Emerson
Begay did the traditional style of dancing; and Lowery Begay was the
emcee and ended the program with the hoop dance.
August,
2008
The
Opening of "Voices of the Land" at the East Tennessee Historical
Society was a real "crowd pleaser." On Saturday and Sunday,
August 23rd and 24th, the ETHS presented a history fair in Krutch Park
next door to the museum. Re-enactors representing many historical
periods shared their love of history with thousands of guests who took
advantage of beautiful weather and free admission to view the new
exhibit. For anyone who has not seen the "Voices," please take
your earliest opportunity to do so. It is quite impressive.
Cherokee
Heritage Day was held once again at James White's Fort in
Knoxville. Rob Rambo was there to present his Little Carpenter
one-man show, which was well received by the audience. Bob
Eldridge did some storytelling, Bear Brooks gave a talk on archery, and
Allen Fugate did a presentation about trade silver. Mark and
Sherry talked about the differences between Natives east and west of
the Mississippi River. Sherry also did her presentation on
tracing Cherokee genealogy.
As always, a hit with the crowd was the dance performances. Nikki
Crisp, Jonathan Crisp, Kele Crisp, Andy Grant, Mark and Sherry
Finchum, and Bob and Lynne Eldridge performed the bear, beaver,
ant, and other dances. The guys also did the war dance.
July,
2008
What a
great trip! The Jefferson County Historical Society took an
excursion to Cherokee, NC, on Saturday, July 26th, with Mark and Sherry
serving as tour guides. You know it is going to be a good trip
when everyone arrives and the bus pulls out right on time!
On the way out of the county, Mark and Sherry shared some background on
the early history of the Cherokee people. Then as the bus went
into the mountains, they talked about the Trail of Tears. As the
tour made it into town, their topic was modern life on the reservation.
The first stop for the group was Granny's Kitchen where everyone
enjoyed a good buffet meal. Driver Pheasant, an elder and
excellent storyteller, along with his wife Hope, a magistrate on the
reservation, spoke briefly to the group there.
The next stop was a tour through Oconaluftee Indian Village where the
group could see demonstrations of basketmaking, pottery making,
arrowhead knapping, and much more. The village also has a
recreated council house and square ground.
After the village tour, John John Grant joined the group on the bus to
tell stories and play the flute on the way to the Kituwah mound,
considered to be the location of the mother town of the
Cherokees.
The Museum of the Cherokee Indian was the next stop. There
everyone could see exhibits on pre-contact Cherokee through the Trail
of Tears period and into the present. The "Emmisaries of Peace"
exhibit on Lt. Henry Timberlake's time in Cherokee country was also
open to visit.
After the museum, the next item on the agenda was a Cherokee
dinner! The ladies of the Cherokee chapter of the North American
Indian Women's Association (NAIWA) prepared chicken and turkey, cabbage
and sochan, fried potatoes and bean bread, and huge servings of
blackberry cobbler. Wow! It was great, as always.
Then the group enjoyed reserved seats for a performance of "Unto These
Hills: A Retelling," which tells the history of the Cherokee
people. After the show, some members of the cast came out to
speak with the group and pose for photographs. Then it was time
for a quiet late night journey home.
The
July 11th teacher workshop was a great success! Indian
Creek Productions, Inc., teamed up with the Tennessee Council for the
Social Studies, the Tennessee Geographic Alliance, the East Tennessee
Historical Society, and the Frank H. McClung Museum to host 19 teachers
for a workshop on American Indian topics.
The day began at the McClung Museum on the UT campus with Debbie
Woodiel, the museum's education director, leading the group on a tour
of the "Archaeology and the Native Peoples of Tennessee" exhibit.
Next Dr. Jefferson Chapman, well-known for his work on the Tellico
archaeology project, discussee current ideas in research. The
group was then treated to a "behind the scenes" tour of the lab, led by
Dr. Gary Crites.
Lunch was delivered from the Tomato Head restaurant in Market Square to
the auditorium at the East Tennessee Historical Society. As lunch
was served, Lowery Begay provided beautiful background flute
music. He then presented a program of music, life lessons, and
the hoop dance. Lowery's presentation was so well-received that
he got a standing ovation!
After lunch, Mark and Sherry presented the "Walking in Balance"
presentation regarding the roles of men and women in Cherokee society
during the late 18th century. Then Lisa Oakley, curator of
education for the ETHS, gave her "Everyday Expressions"
presentation.
After that, it was time for Mark and Sherry to go next door to help set
up for the next day's Spirit of Nations powwow. Others there to
help included Dan Standley, Keri and Bear Brooks, Gordon Sisk, Margie
Detring, Nikki and Anthony Crisp, and Bob and Lynne Eldridge. The
two large Camel tents were set up, as were the smaller tents for the
vendors.
The final set-up took place beginning about 6:30 am on Saturday.
As vendors arrived, they were shown to their spots. Anthony
delivered bales of straw and with a little help got the arena set
up. Nikki, Sherry, and Lynne concentrated on getting the food
booth set up. Keri worked on the Coke booth and the silent
auction. Gordon spent a lot of time complaining that Mark wasn't
doing anything!
The day was a great success! Attendance was good and many people
expressed their desire to see the powwow grow to what is once was many
years ago.
June,
2008
On June 21st, Mark and Sherry participated in the Trail of Tears Walk
in the Snowbird community. The walk started at Tratham Gap and
continued for seven miles down the mountainside and along the highway
to the Junaluska Museum. Believe it or not, they both made it all
the way, electing not to take advantage of the van that followed along
behind. After the walk, lunch was served at the museum. Dr.
Tom Belt of the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma gave a very moving talk
about his experience on the trail that day and encouraged all of those
in attendance to keep the history of what happened alive.
Later that afternoon, Mark and Sherry went on to Cherokee, NC, and
visited with Driver and Hope Pheasant, and then drove on to Boone,
NC. There they were guests of the "Horn in the West" outdoor
drama. This play, which tells the story of westward expansion,
has scenes with Nancy Ward, Dragging Canoe, and Little Carpenter.
Mark and Sherry have been asked to help make those scenes more accurate.
The Native American Festival (6/7-8) at Sycamore Shoals State
Park in Elizabethon was lots of fun. Even though the temperature
was in the 90s, the shade and the breeze made it rather
comfortable. Mark and Sherry set up their campsite
and Sherry demonstrated Cherokee cooking, much to the delight of those
who had a chance to sample! It did not take long to pass out the
peach cobbler!
On Saturday Mark and Sherry gave a presentation on "East vs. West,"
describing some of the differences between Native culture in the Plains
area and among the Cherokee east of the Mississippi River. That
evening about 60 people gathered around the campfire as Mark and Sherry
shared many old stories.
Also at the event were Bob and Lynne Eldridge who set up their campsite
as well. Bob told some stories and shared Indian heritage, while
Lynne made bath salts and helped Sherry with the cooking.
Scott Crisp was there, selling snow cones - genuine Cherokee snow
cones, none the less. He also had Cherokee pickles for sale
too. If none of that makes any sense to you, just check with
Scott and he'll fill you in.
Several cast members of "Liberty!," the outdoor drama at Sycamore
Shoals, came up to ask about costuming those who play Cherokee parts in
the play. Hopefully, the historical and cultural accuracy will
improve.
May, 2008
More fun in Duffield. The Siege at
the Blockhouse took place May 31 - June 1st. This time the new
visitor center was open. The air conditioning and restroom
facilities were much appreciated!
Saturday began with a horse race that turned ugly. One of the
Cherokee men was beaten and then shot in the back as he was being taken
away by his comrades. As you might imagine, things went downhill
fast at that point. Some children and one young lady (park ranger
Megan Krager) went berry picking, only to find themselves under siege
by the warriors. The children escaped, but the young lady was
taken captive.
In an effort to get the young lady back, some of the settlers raided
the Indian camp and kidnapped Sherry to use in an exchange. When
the two sides met and Sherry was returned, the audience enjoyed hearing
Megan say that she was treated better by the Cherokee and would not be
returning to her family.
Later that evening, Mark and Sherry acted out the story of the first
man and first woman as they discovered strawberries. Later, as
the Natives left the campfire to begin a ceremony back at their camp,
the settlers were unnerved by the firing of guns in the woods.
What was really part of the ceremony was mistaken to be an attack on
the blockhouse, so the settlers began firing toward the woods.
The Indians returned fire and rushed the settlers, taking over the
blockhouse in the process. What a great ending to the day!
The Fading Voices Festival was once again
an enjoyable day for Mark and Sherry. They first went into
Robbinsville on Friday evening, May 23rd, and spent the night.
Then on Saturday morning, they headed over to Snowbird for the
festival. As always, there was lots of activity going on: fire
starting, wood carving, basket making, pottery making, blowgun
shooting, Cherokee singing, and of course, the stickball game and fish
game.
Mark's favorite part of the day was the Cherokee dinner - fried
chicken, fried potatoes, beans and hominy, bean bread, and some fat
back. Sherry enjoyed an Indian taco. Shirley Oswalt was
there demonstrating pottery making, while other friends, Mark and Nan
Brown offered samples of traditional Cherokee herbal medicines.
Sherry gave the lid tossing contest a try, but was not able to unseat
last year's champion who won again.
Mark and Sherry headed down to Russell
Cave near Bridgeport, Alabama, for the weekend of May 3rd and 4th to
participate in the park's Native American Weekend. Mark gave his
presentation on "The Trail Where We Cried" both days. Sherry
presented on tracing Cherokee geneaology both days as well. She
was especially excited to learn that her geneaology presentation last
year had helped a woman get enrolled! This year a family visited
with Sherry after her presentation and believe they came away with
enough information that they too will be able to enroll!
In addition, Mark and Sherry got to visit with several long-time
friends, including Mark Eaton, a Cherokee living history presenter, Bo
Taylor, a member of the Anikituwah dancers, and Alva and Nancy Crowe,
who were there selling jewelry, art, and blowguns.
Sherry had the opportunity to learn how to
fingerweave the arrow design from master weaver Susan
Wilson. Susan's husband Jerry was there to demonstrate his talent
for natural dyes and carving. It was also a pleasure to meet
Robin Scott, an unbelievable artist who uses rivercane to make many
functional and historical pieces.
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