Cherokee residents of the Snowbird Community make the traditions of their ancestors part of their daily lives. About an hour’s drive from the Qualla Boundary, the reservation lands of the Snowbird Community are scattered in tracts along the Snowbird, Little Snowbird and Buffalo Creeks.
One of the community’s treasures is the Snowbird Child Development Center, in which approximately 40 children of Cherokee and Southern Highland heritage—infants through age 12—are enrolled at any given time. The Center is vitally important to the community, but it has a problem — its outdoor play space for the children is inadequate. The small play area outside the center has none of the beauty characteristic of the general Snowbird area and has little to appeal to the imagination of the children who play there.
The Center’s staff and the children’s parents stepped to the plate. They established the goal of creating a beautiful space that would provide natural learning opportunities for the children. They also decided they wanted the space to be steeped in Cherokee traditions so the children and their parents—whether they are Cherokee or not—could learn about Cherokee ways.
Iva Key, coordinator for the Center, approached Kathy Dugan, Cherokee Reservation Extension Director for the North Carolina Cooperative Extension, for help. Kathy embraced the effort, and in turn, pulled in Dr. Robin Moore and Nilda Cosco from the School of Design at North Carolina State University.
The North Carolina Cooperative Extension applied for and received a $10,000 grant from the Cherokee Preservation Foundation in Fall 2002 to develop a plan for what had come to be called the Snowbird Natural Learning Project.
The NC State School of Design team came to Snowbird for a two-day planning session in November 2002. Members of the Snowbird Community gave Robin and Nilda who are from England and Argentina, respectively—a crash course in Cherokee history and culture that began in the early evening and extended until very late at night. They learned about native trees and plants, and about the relevance of the number seven to the Cherokees—as evidenced by their seven clans, seven-sided council houses, seven ceremonies and seven sacred directions (north, south, east, west, up, down and here). They heard many Cherokee legends, and they learned about how the Cherokee lived in the mountains over the centuries.
With their heads crammed full of new information—and their design expertise—Robin and Nilda stayed up virtually all night so they could put together a preliminary plan to show the Snowbird residents the next morning. The preliminary plan was greeted with much excitement. With some refinements added since, here is an artist’s rendering of what the collaborators have come up with. Major features include:
- Junaluska apple and other native trees, plus a Weeping Willow tree.
- A seven-sided mini-amphitheatre.
- A tricycle path.
- A seven-sided sandbox.
- A separate infant garden.
- A grassy mound.
- A tunnel.
- A tree house.
- Herb, flower and vegetable gardens.
- A fountain and a small stream.
- Plaques featuring Cherokee legends.
“It’s a plan that will appeal to all the children’s senses and that will allow them to learn by using their imaginations,” said Iva Key of the Snowbird Child Development Center. “We couldn’t be happier with the plan.”
Now the North Carolina Extension Service is leading the charge to secure funding for the project. In Spring 2003, the Cherokee Preservation Foundation was petitioned to provide funding for the infant garden and tricycle path, and Kathy Dugan is seeking funds from other quarters for other parts of the project. Master gardeners from Graham County, the EBCI’s Environmental Planning department, parents, Snowbird Child Development staff members and volunteers will provide the elbow grease to clear the area and create the new play area. The goal is to implement the project by Fall 2003.
The Snowbird Natural Learning Project is a perfect example of the kind of project the Cherokee Preservation Foundation wants to support. Many people came together to create the plan, support to implement the plan is coming from many sources, and the finished park will play a vital role in helping the Snowbird community’s youth learn and grow.
“This project is a real community effort, and the result will be a culturally rich play area we are going to be very proud of,” said Kathy Dugan of the North Carolina Extension Service. “The garden will be a model natural learning area that others around the state and country will surely want to examine and learn from.”
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