TRR photo by David Hulse Frank Littlebird sings to the beat of his ceremonial drum at August 13 ceremonies dedicating the butterfly garden at the Pike County Historical Society museum in Milford. (Click for larger image)

Native Americans dedicate Milford garden

By DAVID HULSE

MILFORD, PA — Respect for the smallest things in nature breeds a greater respect for each other, said Chief Wounded Bear.

“Respect all that, you’ll respect each other and stop the killing,” he said.

Chief Wounded Bear and Frank Little Bear are Greentown residents and members of the Cree Nation of Canada. They were invited to the Pike County Historical Society’s Museum, “The Columns,” last Wednesday to participate in the dedication of a butterfly garden, a monarch butterfly garden to be exact.

“We’re here honoring the butterfly, doing what the Lenape people would be doing if they were still here,” said Chief Wounded Bear.

Monarch butterflies have an ancient place in Native American lore, having been depicted in their artwork and crafts since before the time of Columbus. Wounded Bear spoke of the butterflies annual 10,000 mile migration.

“It’s the state butterfly of Illinois, Texas, Alabama, West Virginia and Minnesota,” he said.

And the timing was right as well. August 15, he said, is the traditional beginning of the migration.

They were welcomed by Bill Kiger, who is a trustee of the historical society, a Milford Borough councilman and a descendent of Tom Quick, Milford’s legendary “Indian Slayer.”

The Columns is about a block away from Quick’s grave and for some months Milford has been debating how to deal with restoring the vandalized 19th century monument that marked the grave.

Kiger said the garden was something that the museum’s director Lori Strelecki wanted very much to do and the society learned of the two Native Americans residing nearby. Their tradition is appealing and they were asked to participate, he said.

“It can be a little sensitive until you meet these people, but you cut right through it. Their tradition is of healing and resolution,” he said.

Strelecki said she considered the Tom Quick controversy in creating the small garden, which has a central milkweed plant, favored by the monarchs. She said she thought of it as a “living tribute.”

Little Bear said there has been a lot of publicity about Tom Quick and he believed that the historical society was looking for a new way of understanding between people, “indigenous people, people of Milford and visitors,” he said.

Early European settlement here represented some of the first incidents of cross-cultural cooperation.

“We helped the people with their crops and surviving in the new country. History has painted both the Europeans and the Native Americans in a bad light,” he said.

We have to grasp the concept of accepting each other’s way of life and not repeat the mistakes of history. This is one step in the process,” he said.

“There’s no more cowboys and Indians. This is the way it should be, especially when you’ve got guys (in the military) over there dying,” said Chief Wounded Bear.