$75,000 Good to Great Program Grant Awarded to The Wood
South Windsor, CT, October 22, 2015- The Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development has chosen The Wood Memorial Library and Museum to receive $75,000 in funding through its pilot Good to Great Program. The funding comes with a matching cash requirement.
The Wood’s grant proposal, written and submitted by Board President Virginia Macro, focuses on the installation of a small Native American village on a c. ¾ acre parcel of land behind the library building. The project includes the construction of wigwams, ethno-botanical plantings and landscaping along with interpretive signs for self-guided tours of the area and enhanced interpretative materials for Wood’s existing Native American exhibits. Currently only a small makeshift frame of a wigwam exists.
“The re-creation of a Podunk village behind the library would transform a visitor’s experience from one of having a vague impression of what life might have been like, to one of feeling the atmosphere of living in a wigwam,” says Macro. “That slight shift in one’s perception of space and time makes an enormous difference. Being able to offer that immersive experience, not as a visitor in a museum looking at a Podunk village but by becoming an actor in it, will afford a deeper appreciation of Native American ingenuity in their day-to-day life.”
The Wood also reached out to Dr. Nicholas Bellantoni, Emeritus State Archaeologist, who has lent his expertise to the discussion of how best to develop and expand on this wonderful opportunity. “Dr. Bellantoni has brought an interesting new perspective with regards to programming and possible stages of development,” says Macro.
The Wood’s prime location on the original Podunk Path provides the perfect environment for Native American programming. The tribes who lived along the Connecticut River, left traces of their existence in the meadows making South Windsor a fertile source of Native American artifacts. Many of those artifacts are now part of the museum’s collections and for over forty years The Wood has offered lectures and hands-on programs for children and adults on the life ways of Northeast Woodland Tribes based on those artifacts.
“Our overall intent in regard to our Native American programming is to provide an accurate portrayal of the Podunk and River tribes that lived along the Connecticut River,” says Executive Director, David Langone. “We feel that this funding and the creation of a Native American village will bring us closer to achieving that objective.”
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