Our next summer adventure was to Pottawatomie County, to my hometown to visit my parents and then visit some places nearby. This was a visit we had planned for spring break but had to postpone.
We started at the Citizen Potawatomi Nation Cultural Heritage Center in Shawnee, right on the border of Tecumseh, my hometown. This facility was not there when I lived in Tecumseh so this was my first time to learn about the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. In hindsight -- well, I hope this resource is something the nearby schools use during Oklahoma History and field trips to help students connect the dots between the Native Americans living in our town and attending school with us, the Citizen Potawatomi, Kickapoo, Absentee Shawnee, Sac and Fox and so many others. Back in my high school days (which are getting farther and farther away) I remember the focus being more on the Five Civilized Tribes for the most part, I'm guessing because they started out with more of Indian Territory (see map at the end of this string of pictures).
Anyway. I was using my cell phone for these photos and it does not do well in museum lighting so I didn't end up with many that were in focus.
Potawatomi Nation is the orange rectangle-like shape in the center.
After this we headed to lunch at the Farmer's Daughter Market.
After seeing some of the exhibits at the Cultural Heritage Center we decided to head out of town to visit Sacred Heart, established by Benedictines. What is left of the original mission site is not open to the public due to vandalism, but we were able to visit the Catholic Church and cemetery built nearby for the settlers in the area. Father Adrian gave us a tour of the building, telling us a bit more about the history of this area. The building was built after the fire that destroyed a lot of the buildings at the mission site, so this was built entirely of concrete.
When I got home, I started reading a book I had already planned to read this month, Native: Identity, Belonging and Rediscovering God by Kaitlin Curtice, a member of the Citizen Potawatomi nation. It was perfect timing, with the visit to the Cultural Heritage Center giving me more background into the history the author shares throughout the book.
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