PORTSMOUTH - Strawbery Banke began the construction of a traditional Indigenous wigwam Wednesday morning, six years after archaeological excavations discovered possible remains of a wigwam on campus.
Paul and Denise Pouliot, head speakers of the Cowasuck Band of Pennacook-Abenaki people based in Alton, led a blessing of the land outside of the Yeaton-Walsh House before construction began. The Pouliots sang and sprinkled the site of the wigwam with a longleaf, Connecticut River Valley tobacco.
“What we were doing is we were thanking Creator for our homelands,” Denise Puoliot said of the blessings.
Paul Pouliot said he and his wife had helped to build dozens of wigwams since the 1990s.