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Hot Springs Arkansas Proposed as Location for Turtle Island Hall of Honor

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“Their history is our history and should be a part of our shared and remembered heritage.” -President John F. Kennedy (1961)

  1. Purpose Our Mission is to build and continually develop Turtle Island Hall of Honor. Turtle Island will be a place that will honor past, present, and future Native American heroes (our ancestors) and will be a museum to represent all First Nations People of North America

  2. Goals We will present the history of Turtle Island from the perspective of the people that have made and are making that history in a geographical and chronological order through art, living exhibits, the location (a special place), and the building (architect to incorporate indigenous values).

  3. Historical Information

    Hot Springs, Arkansas is a very special place for many native people. Jean-Bernard Bossu, who was sent by the King of France (1771) to investigate the land west of the Mississippi River, lived with the Quapaw for an extended period of time and stated “Arkansas county is visited very often by western Indians who come here to take baths for the hot waters are highly esteemed by native physicians who claim that they are strengthening.” Hot Springs was designated the first National Reserve by President Andrew Jackson in 1832 at the same time the five civilized nations were being forcibly removed from their homelands east of the Mississippi to Indian Territory (The Trail of Tears). Hot Springs, historically being an important gathering place for many First Nations makes it the logical place to build Turtle Island Hall of Honor, a museum that will represent all indigenous people of North America.

“Ancient tribal cultures have important lessons to teach the rest of the world.” -Chief Wilma Mankiller – Cherokee

  1. Points of Interest The Colorado Historical Society commissioned a study to determine the interest and perception of potential visitors for the new Colorado History Museum. Among the twenty topics, ” Native People” was clearly the most interesting. This topic was the highest rated among all categories of people interviewed with a 78% rating with 61% being the nearest of the 19 categories.

Turtle Island Hall of Honor is a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation with articles of incorporation in Arkansas. Turtle Island will attract many visitors to Hot Springs National Park.

Board of Directors:

  • Bob McFarlin, DVM – Coordinator
  • Chief Jim Henson, Past Chief of Keetoowah and National Institute of Health Grants recipient
  • Katherine Jones, Director of Museum Studies, Harvard University
  • James Lee Witt, Director of FEMA, President Clinton Administration
  • John Well Off Man, Internationally exhibited Native American artist
  • Aaron Carapella – Turtle Island Cartographer

“Man belongs to the earth; Earth does not belong to man.”