‘Home’ for Cherokee people sought

By Mallory Panuska
Times West Virginian

FAIRMONT November 28, 2008 02:37 am

— A plot of East Side property could be a future tourist attraction displaying details of local Cherokee heritage.
Members of the national and West Virginia chapter of the United People of the Cherokee Nation attended the Marion County Commission meeting this week asking to lease several acres of property near the Poor Farm BMX track on the East Side of Fairmont that is currently owned by the county.
Council elder Doug Steeps Creek Pence and Chief Wynona Rain Dancer Penland said the organization wants to turn the site into a “home” for the Cherokee people.
“We would like to bring the Native American culture to the county and the area at large,” Pence said.
The group wants to start out with a primitive camping ground and then eventually build a cultural center showcasing Native American artifacts and a living village, which will include a circle for pow wows and other Cherokee traditions, Pence said.
“We feel a cultural center would bring a lot of culture and enhance what’s already here,” he explained.
“We can put this together and start drawing tourism with very little money at all,” he added, pointing out that the first phase, the campground, will be very primitive and low-maintenance.
In the beginning stages of this request, county officials are unsure of what needs to be done to allow the organization to utilize this property. County Planner Richard Walton said he is planning on going with some of the members of the organization in the near future and looking at the property to determine the exact boundaries of their request.
“I’m going to look at it and report to the commission exactly what their request is and then probably go over it with the commissioners,” he said.
Walton said he does not know of any requests the county has had that have been similar to this one and said that the specifics of if and how it can be leased or used will likely need to be mapped out by an attorney.
The commissioners agreed that this request is something that will need to be researched and that it may take some time to get everything worked out.
“This isn’t something that will happen overnight,” Commission President Alan Parks said. “First we need to get the land and clean up the land.”
E-mail Mallory Panuska at mpanuska@timeswv.com.