The Peoples of the Land

“Nobody can discover the world for somebody else. Only when we discover it for ourselves does it become common ground and a common bond and we cease to be alone.”

― Wendell Berry, A Place on Earth

As the golden leaves fall from the trees on our hillside, I have a clearer view of the surrounding mountains. I can see the deer and wild turkeys walking along the forest trail above our house much easier too. In this season, when we often gather as family and remember ancestors, I also think about the people who have walked these hills in times past. Living on this piece of land for many seasons now, I have come to think of my world and my family as including all of creation around me as well as the generations past who have lived on and loved this land.

As part of my work in the community, I am helping to bring the Wills Creek Museum into reality. Newly named, the Wills Creek Museum is located at 28 Washington Street in what is known to some as “Hoye House.” Believed to be one of the first homes constructed on Washington Street, Hoye House was built by John and Mary Hoye in the early 19th century. Hoye House has served as a private residence, a Christian Science Reading Room, a synagogue, a bank and offices. Emmanuel Episcopal Church bought the property during the pandemic with an idea to create a separate non-profit museum and tour center for Cumberland. Recently, an historic Cumberland family, the Aviretts, made a significant donation to begin the museum. We are currently working away on the ground floor which will house the Tour Center entrance and gift shop along with the exhibit on the French and Indian War. We hope to have a Grand Opening of the Ground Floor in late April next year.

As part of the work of gathering stories and exhibit pieces, I have been discovering my own story and community along the way. The French and Indian War exhibit will features stories of folks who lived during that period in our region including British officers and Native chiefs and tribes. The museum recently received a gift of Indian artifacts gathered from the valley between Dan’s Mountain and the Potomac. Last week, my museum compatriot Barb and I went to visit Suzanne Trussell at the new office of the Allegany Historical Society in the old firehouse on Mechanic Street to have her take a look at the arrowheads and other stone tools. Suzanne is the founder and Managing Partner of Oxbow Cultural Research and manages day-to-day operations of the Historical Society. She also had with her another history lover named Francis who is a member of the Western Maryland Archaeological Society. As we examined our treasure, we began to tell stories of the Native peoples of this area especially in the 1700s. When Suzanne looked at these arrowheads and other tools, she confirmed that the materials likely came from Ohio and were from the Woodland period which was from 1000 b.c.e. to 1000 c.e. years ago. We also began to talk about Chief Will and his burial place on the mountain near Corriganville. Suzanne also noted that the Shawnee tribe had a settlement in Old Town and Cumberland before and during the time of Fort Cumberland and were regularly in contact with the troops at the Fort and local settlers

.

As I came home after our time with Suzanne, I began to be even more aware of the ancient legacy of our land and its peoples over the years. Everywhere I walked and drove—from Washington Street, out to the kennel with Kirby on the Corriganville-Hyndman road, in my backyard and hillside—I imagined earlier communities of peoples living on the land and walking in these woods. I’ve begun to do historical reading on the Native peoples of this region as well as of the Northeast and Great Lakes. It’s a history filled with resilience and hope as well as tragedy and violence—as is much of history. I am looking forward to Wills Creek Museum capturing the stories of the peoples of this region and all who came to call this place home. For now, I feel a common bond with the land and its peoples and have a deeper sense of home with each new learning and story.

Pondering: We always take a Thanksgiving Day hike. As you prepare for Thanksgiving, take a hike and sense the history and creation all around as you read this poem by farm and man of the land Wendell Berry:

The Peace of Wild Things

When despair for the world grows in me

and I wake in the night at the least sound

in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,

I go and lie down where the wood drake

rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.

I come into the peace of wild things

who do not tax their lives with forethought

of grief. I come into the presence of still water.

And I feel above me the day-blind stars

waiting with their light. For a time

I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.”

― Wendell Berry, The Selected Poems of Wendell Berry

Note: Don’t forget the pre-Advent retreat “Divine Invitation” will be held at Emmanuel Parish in Cumberland from 4 pm-8 pm on Sunday, Nov 26. Please join me as we find a time of quiet and fellowship. Sign-up and donation button will be repeated next week.