The herby scent of smoke wafted across the small building, playground, parking lot and grassy grounds.
Ragghi Rain and Herman Jackson carried a turtle shell of gently burning embers to bless every corner of the Nanticoke Indian Tribe’s upcoming project: a major expansion of their longtime community center on Route 24.
Along with this ceremonial blessing on Aug. 25, the Nanticokes hosted a groundbreaking ceremony, with dignitaries and golden shovels. The current Nanticoke Indian Center will be renovated and enlarged to become the future Nanticoke Indian Cultural Community Center.
“This is an unbelievable moment for the Nanticoke Indian Tribe and the entire Millsboro community. Your presence here today not only honors our past, but also celebrates our future,” said historian Bonnie “She Who Cares” Hall, also slipping into the Algonquian language. “Waanishii: thank you for joining us on this momentous occasion.”
“Today we stand on sacred ground — not only in the physical sense, but in the spirit and the purpose,” said Assistant Chief Farrah Norwood Stigall. “This is more than a construction project, this is a powerful declaration of who we are and what we stand for. … This center will be a living tribute to the strength, resilience and the enduring legacy of the Nanticoke people.”
The Nanticokes have a long history of learning at the site. State-sponsored segregation prompted the Nanticokes to build their own Indian Mission School for grades 1 to 8 in the 1920s, rebuild after a 1940s fire, close it after 1960s integration and ultimately repurpose the small white building as a community center.
The current building is limited to 2,250 square feet, and soon it’ll more than double, to about 5,000 square feet. It will continue as a cultural center where elders teach, youngsters learn and play, drummers and dancers rehearse and leaders meet. But it’ll be more…