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Indian crafts and lore
I was probably ten or twelve years old when Paul Donnelly and I went for a swim behind his house in the tributary to the Fifteen Mile Creek. On a curve in the stream was a sandbar. My toes touched something and I grabbed it. As I recall it was about a 5-inch long perfect arrowhead. Paul wanted it and I passed it over. What happened to it, I do not know. However, it did much to make me believe that the area just on the other side of the creek were indeed Indian mounds. Hindsight makes me think that actually, these smooth sandstone areas were the remains of where early house builders in our area cut the sandstone pillars for house foundations. Many of these foundation stones are still around, many still holding up houses. As a kid I fervently believed that these were sacred Indian burial grounds and finding that arrowhead just added the evidence I needed. A few years ago I bought on eBay The Golden Book of Indian Crafts and Lore by W. Ben Hunt. Before long I had met four Emanuel Countians who know more than is in the book, and especially about the Native Americans from our area. The locals are experts in archeology, lore and craft related to our Native Americans. They are resources for schools and civic groups and we owe them not only the opportunity to share this knowledge with u,s but we owe them our thanks and support. Steve Burke lives in Garfield and I have attended a couple of his demonstrations on Native American survival skills. He comes dressed for the role and has brought along his enormous hand wrought canoe. Donnie Mc- Neely has presented programs I have attended where he demonstrates the construction of Indian crafts including the manufacture of arrowheads. Emory Fennel and Danny Greenway will laugh at my generic use of the term arrowhead for there are so many points to be described. They represent the local archeological component of Indian culture. They both are highly knowledgeable about these things I call arrowheads. When the tent movie would come to Garfield I loved the cowboy and Indian films. What kid did not? Over the years I have looked ever so closely at the two or three photos I have of my great, great grandfather Atkinson. His high cheekbones and some other features made me wonder about his ethnicity. Last year I found on the Internet "looking for Cherokee Indian Jesse R. Atkinson." That was my relative, but there are no answers to this mystery. The green values that come from Native American philosophy have affected me as well. Reverence for the land, care and concern for habitat and a desire not to be wasteful all therein derive. Millions of North and South American Indians died in their first contact with western diseases. This is our burden to claim. I fear all human populations face this whether it is bird flu, AIDS, or the yet unknown epidemic. My sons spent many summers in north Georgia at Camp Cherokee. They even lived in Arrowhead cabin. They had a neighbor whose parents had been missionaries to the Indians in Oklahoma in the 1880's. She taught them a song called "Kimo Kimo" and they can still sing it. Knowledge of one's heritage is very fragile. I am glad they have grown up, like me, with appreciation of our nonwestern forbearers. Are those Indian mounds in Garfield, or are they remnants of sandstone sawing?--Jack Atkinson is a guest columnist and a resident of Garfield.
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