Indigenous People Bridging Cultures

 

The Peter Dougherty Society

We need a little additional money to finish creating a museum to honor the peaceful relationship between settlers and Native Americans that happened in a quiet northern Michigan village.

Shortly after the 1838 Cherokee Trail of Tears death march Chief Aghosa (Flying Hawk) of the Odawa tribe and Peter Dougherty, a Presbyterian minister, formed a remarkable bond of mutual respect and collaboration. Together they moved with the local tribe from Elk Rapids, Michigan to Old Mission and eventually on to Omena, Michigan crossing two bays and three peninsulas in a shared quest for the safety and protection of Aghosa's people. Together in 1843 they built the Mission House on Old Mission Peninsula in northern Michigan.
 
We are honoring this remarkable feat of inter-cultural cooperation by restoring the Mission House. We have raised money and have restored the ice house, the summer kitchen and have just completed raising the main house and replacing the 172 year old foundation. We need just a little more money to meet a matching grant to finish the project.
 
We will use this money to finish the interior and exterior of this main house. When completed it will open as a MUSEUM to help keep this moving story alive. We would love for you to visit The Peter Dougherty House. Bring you kids and grandkids.
 
You can be a part of history, this little known achievement between the Odawa people and the settlers. When violence was happening elsewhere, these two men stepped up and achieved peace and worked in harmony.
 
Help tell this story by donating today.

 TAX DEDUCTABLE: a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit