Explore traditional Abenaki cultural objects and knowledge, ranging from toys and games, to language, places, stories, and arts.
Historical Information displayed on our site is supported by the United States Congress and the National Archives Project.
Table of Contents
- Nulhegan Cultural & Historic Preservation Department
- Learn about Our Mission, the team, and our work
- Examine Nulhegan 3D cultural objects being scanned to the National Archives. The list of items is growing almost daily.
- Learn:
- About traditional Abenaki basketry artists
- About traditional Abenaki Ethno-Botany
- Behind the Seeds – this is an audio broadcast by Chief Don Stevens
- How to make a Northern Style Bustle
- Historic Timeline / Teaching Our Culture
- Keeping Our Language Alive
- Western Abenaki language learning resource website
- Traditions: Toys & Games
- Vermont’s Native Americans
- Wabanaagig
- Video about the The Vermont Abenaki – A Struggle for Recognition
- Abenaki Places:
- Abenaki Stories:
- The Corn Mother Story as told by Chief Don Stevens
- The Creation Story as told by Chief Don Stevens
- The Maple Syrup Story as told by Chief Don Stevens
- Nebi – Abenaki Ways of Knowing Water
- Odzihozo and Champ
- Interviews:
- Vermont Byways
- Videos of several interviews with Chief Don Stevens and Juliana Anderson of Vermont Byways
- Grounded Leadership
- Cheryl Mitchell of Treleven Productions interviews Chief Don Stevens of the Nulhegan Abenaki Tribe
- Vermont Byways
Nulhegan Cultural & Historic Preservation Department
Explore our mission, the team, and our work to preserve our cultural heritage.
See Cultural Objects and Examine Them in 3D
A collection of cultural objects are in the process of being scanned to the National Archives. Click the link below to visit the site and see the items that have been scanned. Visit the site often, as the list of items is growing almost daily.
About Maple Syrup
- Read about the history of maple syrup in relation to the Abenaki people, as well as how we incorporate maple syrup into our culture today.
Traditional Abenaki Basketry Artists
Typically made from ash, Abenaki baskets are as beautiful as they are functional. Nulhegan has several professional basketmakers. Select the basketmaker on Abenakiart.org you’d like to learn more about, and to view samples of their work or get in contact with them.
How to Make a Northern Style Bustle
Dave Hall has created this outstanding document on how to create a Northern Style Bustle. Please click on the link to download a copy of his tutorial.
Traditional Abenaki Ethno-Botany
Explore this guide and the ways in which the Abenaki people have used the native plants around them for healing and more.
Historic Timeline / Teaching Our Culture
Though our history is much older, this timeline takes you through some interesting information starting in the 1700s.
Traditions: Toys & Games
Learn about many of the games, toys, and recreation of Abenaki and other Northeast tribes. At the end of the page, you will find a link to download a booklet with instructions to make the toys.
Wabanaagig
WABANAAGIG, Land of the Rising Sun goes beyond words to encapsulate the strong emotions of the Wabanaki, a people who have emerged from centuries of oppression, occupation of their lands, and obliteration of their languages.
Vermont’s Native Americans
Watch an Abenaki Culture TV Show featuring Chief Don Stevens and Abenaki educator, Melody Walker.
Behind The Seeds
Join in to hear from Chief Don Stevens of the Nulhegan Band of the Coosuk, Abenaki Nation, as he shares with us his background in seed and the role corn has played in his life. Chief Stevens explores themes of tradition, regional seed keeping, community partnerships, and what he sees as next steps in NE regional seed work, and highlights the Roy’s Calais Abenaki Flint Corn.
Abenaki Places
Ndakinna: This Place, Our Homeland
This video explores the rich heritage of Lebanon, NH, and its deep connections to the ancestral lands of the Abenaki people.
Monadnock: The Mountain That Stands Alone
“Monadnock: The Mountain that Stands Alone,” tells the story of the second most climbed mountain in the world, Mount Monadnock. (Mount Fuji, in Japan, with 300,000 climbers a year is the first.) Some of the famous writers and thinkers who were inspired by its iconic peak include Mark Twain, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Henry David Thoreau.
Click button below to read full article and view the film.
Abenaki Stories
This page contains videos of a variety of Abenaki Stories that are told at our gatherings as ways of teaching our traditions and culture. Videos included on the Abenaki Stories webpage are:
- The Corn Mother Story as told by Chief Don Stevens
- Listen to the captivating story about The Corn Mother – a story that tells about our life-sustaining food that is an integral part of the Three Sisters Garden.
- The Creation Story as told by Chief Don Stevens
- Most cultures have a story about creation. Chief Don Stevens shares the Abenaki Creation Story in this video.
- The Maple Syrup Story as told by Chief Don Stevens
- Listen to Chief Don Stevens, an Abenaki Storyteller, tell the traditional story about how maple syrup came to be.
- Nebi – Abenaki Ways of Knowing Water
- A beautiful story about water and it’s importance to life, as told by Chief Don Stevens.
- Odzihozo and Champ
- A detailed story – this is one of the many Abenaki stories that we hope to pass on to the next 7 Generations. Please share with your family. This story is told by Chief Don Stevens.
Interviews
Vermont Byways
Watch several interviews on the cable TV show “Vermont Byways” with Chief Don Stevens and host Juliana Anderson.
Interviews include:
- 01/11/2023: Chief Don Stevens talks about the mission statement of the Nulhegan band, the meaning of the land, the importance of tradition, ancient history, identity, and educating youth to understand their heritage and the responsibility that entails
- 01/25/2023: While some national programs support education for some federally recognized Indigenous Tribes, local bands in Vermont are not well supported by these programs. Chief Don Stevens reflects on some of the history and today’s youth
- 03/08/2023: Chief Don Stevens dives into the complexities of celebrations and liturgies, Spirit and spirits, belief, and meditation/prayer, in a beginning conversation about spirituality, recalling practices of Native Peoples in pre-contact Vermont
Grounded Leadership
01/27/2020: Cheryl Mitchell of Treleven Productions interviews Chief Don Stevens of the Nulhegan Abenaki Tribe.