GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The Grand Rapids Public Museum (GRPM) is kicking off "GR Stories - The Grand River Burial Mounds, The Place Where Our Ancestors Rest". The free program offers an opportunity for the community to learn more about indigenous perspectives and relationships with the site known by many as the “Norton” Mounds. The program is being offered through a Telling the Full History Preservation Fund grant from the National Trust for Historic Preservation and National Endowment for the Humanities.
“People have been really curious about these Mounds," GRPM marketing manager Sara Olson said.
The event has already sold out, but the museum is hoping to offer more similar programs in the future.
"We get so many questions about this all the time," Olson added.
The program will take place on March 25, 2023, at 4 p.m. in the GRPM’s Meijer Theater. It will feature presentations by Ron Yob, Grand River Band of Ottawa Indians’ Tribal Chairman, and Dr. Andrea Riley-Mukavetz (Chippewa of Thames), Community Engagement Manager for the City of Grand Rapids and former Associate Professor at Grand Valley State University.
GRPM’s Anishinaabe Curator, Jannan Cotto, will also provide updates on the Grand River Burial Mounds Interpretation Initiative.
“We are excited that Chairman Ron Yob will be joining us to share tribal perspectives on the mounds and the ancestors, as well as how tribal communities have maintained relationships with the mounds site over time,” Cotto said. “We are also very excited that indigenous scholar Andrea Riley-Mukavetz will share insights and connections she is making through her sabbatical research project, focusing on trail marker trees and burial mounds.”
The Grand River Burial Mounds site, often known as the Norton Mounds, holds historical significance and was recognized in 1957 when it was listed on the Michigan State Register of Historic Sites. Later in 1966 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The burial mounds, constructed during the Middle Woodland period approximately 2,000 years ago, have been subject to multiple owners, vandalism, and attempts to turn the site into a tourist attraction. As the current caretaker of the mounds, the GRPM is working with local tribes to develop a consensus on how to best care for and interpret this sacred place.
For more programs and spring events happening at GRPM you can click here.
