History Walks the Streets at Trail of Courage Sept. 15-16, 2007

Special Guest Presentation of Eagle Feather Saturday.

You can step back in time to an entirely different life, when history walked the streets, at the 32nd annual Trail of Courage Living History Festival Sept. 15-16 at Rochester. The Potawatomi Indians were marched single file down Rochester’s Main Street September 5, 1838, on the forced removal known as the Trail of Death. Since 1976 this festival has honored the American Indians and shown life before the removal when this was still Potawatomi Territory.

Frontier Indiana comes alive with foods cooked over wood fires, period music and dance, traditional crafts, historic camps and trading, canoe rides on the river, and much more. It is produced by the Fulton County Historical Society, Rochester, Indiana. This event combines genealogy of the Potawatomi Indians and the settlers who lived in Fulton County and northern Indiana in the early 1800s with the rendezvous events and stage programs and the historic canoe landing and fur trade skit on the Tippecanoe River. The Trail of Courage will be held at the FCHS grounds four miles north of Rochester on US 31. Admission is $6 for adults, $2 for children (6 through 11), and free age 5 and under. Hours are Sat. 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sun. 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

A unique presentation of an eagle feather to the Potawatomi Trail of Death Association will take place at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at the Indian dance arena to thank all who helped commemorate the 1838 Trail of Death removal from Indiana to Kansas. The feather is from Gary Wiskigeamatyuk, Cypress, California, member of the Prairie Band Potawatomi, whose ancestor Chief Abram Burnett was on the Trail of Death - see his web site www.wiskigeamatyuk.com. A branch of FCHS, the Potawatomi Trail of Death Assn. has a web site www.potawatomi-tda.org and operates the Indian Awareness booth at the Trail of Courage.

This year’s honored Potawatomi family will be Smokey McKinney, Haskell Indian Nations University, Lawrence, Kansas, a member of the Prairie Band, who teaches Potawatomi language and history at www.kansasheritage.org/pbp/talk/home.html. He will tell their story at 10:30 a.m. on the Chippeway Village stage both days.

New this year will be Sarah Miller, Kewanna, playing guitar and violin, and her church class will perform a Hebrew dance. Three authors will sell and autograph their new books and give talks on the stage. John McMullen, Evansville, will tell about The Last Blackrobe of Indiana and the Potawatomi Trail of Death.

Keith Drury, professor of religion at Indiana Wesleyan University, Marion, will tell about Walking the Trail of Death. Mike Floyd, chief of the Eel River Tribe, will tell about their Welsh ancestry and famous Chief Little Turtle.

The public is invited to join in the Indian dances at 2 p.m., which are held in an arena encircled by teepees. The drum will be All Nations Drum led by John Helton, Kenton, Ohio. Head dancers will be Zanzia Russell, Westminister, Colorado, a descendant of Chief Keesis, who was on the 1838 Trail of Death from Indiana to Kansas. She is a member of the Prairie Band Potawatomi. The Head Man will be Tim Jordan, Peru, first chief of the Hawk Band of the American Metis Aboriginal Assn. George Godfrey, Athens, Illinois, member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, will act as emcee. He is president of the Potawatomi Trail of Death Association, and has been dancing at the Trail of Courage since 1988. Godfrey had an ancestor on the 1838 Trail of Death.

The Trail of Courage includes historic encampments representing the French & Indian War, Voyageurs, Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Western Fur Trade, Plains Indians teepees, and Woodland Indian wigwam village. A special re-creation of a Miami Village includes wigwams and lifeways demonstrations, such as making cattail mats. There is also a re-creation of Chippeway, the first trading post, post office and village in Fulton County in 1832. Food purveyors and traditional craftsmen set up in wooden booths to demonstrate and sell their wares. Craftsmen also sell pre-1840 trade goods from blankets and in historic merchant tents, offering a variety of items from clothing and jewelry to knives and candles, everything needed to live in frontier days. Canoe rides, muzzle loading shooting and tomahawk throwing contests, and a frontier blab school add to the frontier activities.

Two stages with frontier music and dance present programs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Since the early 1980s FCHS has received grants from the Indiana Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts to help pay for musicians and dancers: 42nd Royal Highlanders, Aztec dancers, Johnny Appleseed, Shakin’ Hammers String Band, Mark and Liza Woolever, Susan and Gary Brown, Beverly Vanderpool - Frontier Blab School, Chief White Eagle, Indian dancers and drum. Many volunteers provide programs such as Frontier Frolic dance called by Shirley Willard, Nan Edwards’ dogs pulling travois, Dr. John Haste - frontier animals, Schultz family - goats and kids, Phyllis Whitmore - Woodland Indian storytelling, and Riddle School 4th grade dancers, Hannah Jones - fiddle, Dan and Dale Lybarger - Native American flute music. Both Catholic and Protestant worship services are held at 9:00 a.m. on Sunday.

A grant of $2,631 from the Northern Indiana Partnership for the Arts, Indiana Arts Commission and the National Endowment of the Arts will help pay for music programs. Donations to match the grant are welcome as it is necessary to match the grant dollar for dollar in order to claim the money.

Pioneer foods are cooked over wood fires. Visitors can feast on buffalo burgers, chicken and noodles, barbecue, ham and beans, venison chili, Indian fry bread and tacos, fish and chips cooked in big iron kettles, apple dumplings, corn on the cob, apple sausage, and more, including ice cream, one of George Washington’s favorite treats. Local clubs cook and serve these historic foods to fund their projects: Rotary, Kappa Delta Phi, Swingin’ Dudes Square Dancers, Grass Creek Lions Club, and Fulton County Historical Society. A Navajo family, Anthony and Mary Ann Yazzie, Merrillan, Wisconsin, make fry bread and Navajo tacos. A Black family, Harvey and Beverly Jackson, Rochester, do the barbecue and sweet potato pie, and also exhibit a frontier African-American house. Many people come to the festival just for the delicious food!

The grounds are handicapped accessible. Free tram rides are available to bring people from the museum, round barn and Living History Village at the north end of the grounds. The museum and village are open with costumed hosts and free admission.
Volunteers can earn free admission to the Trail of Courage by working half a day. To volunteer or for more information, call the museum at 574-223-4436. Free parking is provided on FCHS grounds. Plenty of free benches are available to sit and rest.