Ground is broken on tribal museum and cultural center

An artist's conception of the Grand Traverse Band Cultural Center and Museum on M-22 in Peshawbestown shows its contemporary design.

Tribal members representing each of the six counties in the GTB's service area, the Tribal Council, the Museum Advisory Goard, veterans, elders and youth, break ground for the tribe's Cultural Center and Museum in Peshawbestown on Friday moring.

Tribal members broke ground Friday morning in Peshawbestown on a $1 million cultural center and museum for the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians.

Around 100 people were in attendance at the 9 a.m. ceremony near the waterfront on the east side of M-22 (West Bay Shore Drive) across from the tribe’s Economic Development Corporation building, where the museum and cultural center will be built.

The tribe’s Medicine Lodge Singers provided traditional music followed by a prayer offered by Tribal Court official Paul Raphael. The area was smudged with sacred herbs by cultural traditionalist Tom Peters. Pat Putney of the tribe’s Elders & Culture Department served as master of ceremonies.

Those in attendance heard from Tribal Chairman Robert Kewaygoshkum, Tribal Council treasurer Joseph C. “Buddy” Raphael, and former Tribal Chairman George Bennett.

Bennett recalled that in the 1930s, when he was a boy, the area was once a barnyard. He called the museum and cultural center “a dream come true.”

Raphael added that in the 1940s the area had also been the site of one of three water wells serving the Peshawbestown community. He said the site was part of the original 12.5 acres reacquired by tribal members for a reservation, and may be the first parcel ever purchased with tribal gaming revenues in the U.S.

The 6,000-square-foot museum and cultural center was designed by local architect Steve Feringa, a tribal member. Laura Quackenbush, the former curator of the Leelanau Historical Museum, is helping to coordinate the project.

The construction project is being paid for with a $500,000 federal grant, plus tribal funds. The museum and cultural center will be open to the public sometime next year, officials said.