Native American

The Native-American Garden began in the Spring of 2000 when two gardens and wig-wams were made and a council ring was added. Jude Rakowski, retired from the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore park, where she developed a deep interest in Native-American culture while she supervised the historic Chellberg Farm and the Bailly Homestead Fur Trading Post, was stimulated to honor America’s first gardeners by adding the Native-American garden to the ethnic gardens in International Friendship Gardens.The garden was dedicated on July 1, 2001, by a member of the Great Lakes Alliance, a woman of Pottawatomie ancestry. In Sept., 2004, members of the Callumic Band of the Great Lakes Woodland Alliance built a family size wigwam and demonstrated early Native-American lifestyles. A circular garden contains medicinal plants, tobacco, and beans. A rectangular garden has corn, beans, and squash – often called “ the Three Sisters.