42 NEBRASKAland • JULY 2017
uly 21-23 will be a special
three days for the people of
Lewellen near Ash Hollow
State Historical Park. With the
signature sesquicentennial event
"Convergence on Sacred Ground," they
expect to welcome 15,000 to 20,000
people to the area for the celebration,
recalling the scale of their landmark
centennial celebration in 1967.
But the event will be special for
other reasons as well. Convergence
on Sacred Ground will celebrate and
bring together five distinct historic
groups of the Ash Hollow area: Native
Americans, cowboys, fur traders,
pioneers and homesteaders, and the
United States military. The event's title
is in honor of the Native American
people who once lived in Ash Hollow.
"Our event is an opportunity to
make history by inviting the Native
Americans back and honoring them
for what they contributed to the area,"
said DeAnn Beard, one of the event's
organizers. "We wanted to provide an
arena for them to come and tell their
stories."
Convergence on Sacred Ground
will feature numerous educational
and hands-on activities at five
encampments representing each of
the historic groups. At the pioneer
encampment, visitors can milk a cow,
gather eggs and churn butter; the fur
trader encampment will feature trading,
hide tanning and hawk and knife
throwing; reenactors will portray daily
life at the military encampment; and
Sandhills ranchers will demonstrate
cattle branding and herding, calf
roping, blacksmithing and horse
training at the cowboy encampment.
At the Native American encampment,
visitors can explore period-accurate
tipis and see demonstrations of
By Renae Blum
A
GATHERING
OF
CULTURES
A signature sesquicentennial event at
Ash Hollow State Historical Park will
bring together five distinct historic
groups of the Ash Hollow area.
ABOVE: Commemorating the Oregon
Trail journey, the marker reads,
"Oregon Trail, Marked by the State of
Nebraska, 1912, Windlass Hill entrance
to Ash Hollow."
RIGHT: This traditional necklace was
crafted by Drattling Leaf of Black
Hawk, South Dakota, who will be
displaying her work at Convergence
on Sacred Ground alongside 10-20
other Lakota artists.
J
PHOTO
BY
JUSTIN
HAAG