The Mission House exhibit shares the history and culture of the Stockbridge–Munsee Mohican Nation. Photo: Brian Cruey
STOCKBRIDGE — From the banks of the Konkapot River to the cascading waters of Umpachene Falls, the history of the Stockbridge–Munsee Mohican Nation runs deep in Berkshire County. Conversations surrounding the origins of the federally recognized Tribal Nation in Wisconsin — which began in the Hudson and Housatonic River Valleys of the Northeast — have not always been as audible as the rushing bodies of water named for the leaders of two Housatonic Mohican villages in 1734.
Today, 165 years after The Nation was forcibly relocated to what are now the towns of Red Springs and Bartelme in Shawano County, Wisconsin (a result of the Treaty of 1856), a new exhibit at The Mission House Museum gives voice not only to Mohican history and culture, but to land as a source of traditions and identity, and tackles the repercussions of an entire group being forcibly uprooted from their ancestral home.
“We are excited that we have a place to call ours to tell our history, our way. The history that Mohican Nation has in Stockbridge is significant and we are grateful to be able to tell it,” said Heather Bruegl, cultural affairs director for the Stockbridge–Munsee Community, about “Mohican Miles,” the exhibit opening July 2 at The Mission House. Created through collaboration with The Trustees of Reservations, the exhibit covers a wide range of topics, including an overview of Mohican history, the Tribe’s historic relationship with The Trustees, information about the community today, the work…