The Eastern Shawnee tribe traces its roots to Ohio. Their ancestors resided here before forced removal in the 1800s. That’s why tribal leaders organized a trip to Ohio for 60 tribal members to witness the opening of Great Council State Park and visit other historical sites across the state.
Today the tribe has more than 3,000 enrolled citizens. Members came from places like Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas and the site of their reservation, Oklahoma. They also represented multiple generations of Eastern Shawnee.
“We have people from all of those states who have come and haven’t necessarily learned their history. So it's always important to educate and teach them so that these visits are more meaningful when they get here,” said Eastern Shawnee Chief Glenna Wallace.
The trip centered around the opening of Great Council State Park. But members also visited sites like Fort Ancient, Hopewell Culture Historical Park and Serpent Mound.
Wallace said these are some of the few remaining sites that represent their history in Ohio.
“I felt very strongly about the fact that the tribes had been removed, the people had been removed,” she said. “But did they have to erase every aspect or trace of our ancestors who were here for so many years and who loved this place?”
Chris Samples is the second chief of the Eastern Shawnee nation and one of the trip participants. This isn’t his first visit to Ohio. But with the opening of Great Council, this one is special.
“It's great to come back to Ohio. And it's great to see all three federally recognized tribes and in Oklahoma have the opportunity to come back and tell a piece of their story, because we have hundreds upon hundreds of years of existence here in this state, and we have more existence in this state than we actually do in Oklahoma,” he said.
Fort Ancient, Serpent Mound and Hopewell Culture Historical Park have mounds that were constructed by people from the Hopewell culture.
Many modern tribal communities trace their lineage to the Hopewell–including the Eastern Shawnee.
This isn’t the first time the tribe’s coordinated a trip to Ohio. Wallace said they’ve also visited in 2007, 2009 and 2014. She said these journeys have been a priority for her while serving as chief since 2006.
