"I like to personally interact and talk with the people. When you visit us here, it's all about the experience." - Jeff Savage, Museum Director
The FDL Museum, located at 1711 Big Lake Road, was built in the summer of 2000 with a focus on veterans that was broadened to encompass FDL history and cultural arts. The log building was a kit donated by foundations to reservations with tribal colleges to create a museum so tribes could display native American items found in graves and are part of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) which is a federal law related to displaying artifacts and a place for ceremonial burial items.
Nagaajiwanaang, “Where the Water Stops,” is the name of the homelands of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa at the time of the 1854 Treaty. The Fond du Lac Band retained this name in Ojibwemowin for the present-day Fond du lac Reservation that was established under the 1854 La Pointe Treaty. Nagaajiwanaang (Fond du Lac Band) is one of the six Bands of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe. Three districts make up the Fond du Lac Reservation: Bapashkominitigong (Cloquet), Gwaaba’iganing (Sawyer), and Ashkibwaakaaning (Brookston). Today, the Band includes over 4,200 members and is proud to be a sovereign Ojibwe nation that upholds all rights retained and agreed to within the 1825, 1826, 1837, 1842, 1847, and 1854 Treaties.
The museum is tribally funded, and its focus is physically limited, so evolving trends have been to conduct activities to teach the art of language along with other activities that celebrate the four seasons and connection to nature, including:
SPRING
o Maple sugaring in the spring – SUGAR BUSH- maple syruping
o Early fishing April/May
SUMMER
o Gardening seasonal products harvest birch bark outside physically in the summer harvest wild plants berry picking
FALL
o All things harvest
WINTER
o Indoor cultural activities, beadwork, storytelling, and lesson time.
The FDL Reservation seasonal activities retain the community to cultural practices, which is the facility's purpose. This department also covers language programs focusing on revitalizing the Ojibwa language. Recently FDL has expanded to provide a building across the street for cultural and seasonal activities hosting inside and outside workshops. They are working on a language immersion school, integrating into FDL schools – ISD94 cultural exchange.
Cultural Center and Veteran's Museum
1711 Big Lake Road
Cloquet MN 55720
(218) 878-7582
Website: Click Here