Visit the Mt. Kearsarge Indian Museum

We try to schedule at least one 'off camp' event at Great Escape each year, and this year we've planned a trip to the Mt. Kearsarge Indian Museum.  Our friend Mel loved this place, and used to 'sneak out' to visit almost every time she was at GE.

The story of the founding of the museum is touching, I think.  Here's an excerpt from the website.

"In 1929 Grand Chief Sachem Silverstar visited a second grade classroom. Silverstar emphasized the uniqueness of each individual and their interconnectedness to all other life. He told the children that within each of them was a special power, a talent, that could make the world a better place and that he hoped to someday hear how each and every one of them had made a positive difference. That same year, on summer vacation at his grandfather’s farm in Connecticut, Bud Thompson found an arrowhead and his lifelong love of American Indian artifacts was cemented.

Bud and his wife, Nancy, were troubled by the harm being done to the environment by greed and apathy. Bud and Nancy set in motion a plan to create an education and cultural center – a “Museum with a Voice” to pass along Silverstar’s message. The artifacts would inform the study of cultures that understood how to live harmoniously with this land so as to leave it fruitful and beautiful for generations to come. With this in mind, the Museum galleries, grounds and gardens were designed as teaching tools while also functioning as tranquility zones in which visitors would find respite from the hectic pace of modern life."

Silverstar and the Thompsons are people who have lived our Girl Scout law and a trip to the museum will be both informative and fun!   (And yes, there's a museum store for your shopping fix, as well as a tranquility trail to soothe your soul.)