Wigwam

For thousands of years, Native Americans lived on the shores of the Pine and Chippewa Rivers that flow through current Nature Center lands. Today, you can visit our Wigwam reconstruction to learn about Native American life in Midland County hundreds of years ago.

Activities at the wigwam include demonstrations at Maple Syrup Day, Fall Festival and other seasonal programs. CNC also offers a variety of traditional skills workshops each year, such as fire-by-friction and cordage making, brain-tanning deer hides and flintknapping. Additional programs for school groups, summer day campers and scout groups also utilize this unique bark building. See the calendar for this year’s list of programs.  

A Bark House Reborn
From the October 2006 CNC Newsletter

First constructed in 1998, CNC’s wigwam has hosted dozens of programs over the past eight years, highlighting ways in which Native Americans of the past interacted with the natural world. Participants enjoy traditional skills workshops, storytelling, special demonstrations and hands-on activities in every season.

Our "bark house" has also captured the imagination of hundreds of school children and summer day campers, who often bring their families back for a visit as the kids serve as tour guides.

More than five years ago, CNC worked with Jim Miller of Willow Winds to install the most recent bark roof and walls of our wigwam; since then weather had taken its toll. In days-gone-by, Native peoples moved from place to place, renovating and maintaining their homes on a constant basis throughout the year. Our wigwam, however, sat in the same spot through soaking rain, hot summer sun, blowing winds and winter ice for half a decade. In that time, we maintained things the best we could, but the cedar and basswood bark became badly decayed (just like nature intended!)

Working with loggers in the Upper Peninsula, Jim harvested a large amount of new cedar bark early this summer. In late August, he came back to the Nature Center with a trailer-load of new bark to recover our wigwam. Dennis Pilaske and I worked two long days with Jim as we removed old bark, patched up the wooden frame and stitched on new sheets of bark, just like huge shingles. CNC Educator Curt Holsinger also helped us finish the project.

Jim completed the project by installing new seating platforms inside and a cover for the smokehole, to help keep out the weather.

If you’re out for a program or a walk on the trail, I encourage you to stop by our "bark house reborn" and check it out for yourself!

—Kyle Bagnall, Manager of Historical Programs