Wabeno Teaching Lodge

In August of 2005, a new Wabeno Teaching Lodge was built for Hannahville community cultural and educational activities. The building of this new lodge was made possible through a special funding grant from Hannahville Youth Services. A number of Hannahville youth volunteered to spend several days on completing the new structure. Throughout the building process, the youth had the opportunity to share their talents as well as to learn long held cultural traditions. In particular, they learned that the drum and special songs play a key role at specific times throughout the building process.

Hannahville youth were assisted by area elders and other experienced adults to assure that the lodge was built in the traditional way. Work on the lodge was completed in time for the start of the 2005/2006 school year. During teacher orientation days prior to the first day of school, teachers, aides and school staff were taken on a tour of the Hannahville reservation, concluding the tour at the Wabeno Lodge for a cultural learning session. The session was followed by a lively question and answer period.

The Wabeno Lodge is located on County Road 400 in Harris Township, on property behind the home of Earl and Aiesha Meshigaud. Wabeno Lodge Teachings are held weekly on Wednesday evenings from 6:00 to 8:00 PM, with Potawatomi language teaching a part of every session. It is a good idea to contact Earl Meshigaud ahead of time to assure that another community event has not canceled the Wabeno Lodge on a particular evening.

In the slide show below, you will view photos from the start of construction to the point just before the exterior covering was added. Additional photos after project completion are included at the top and bottom of this page. Since there are a total of 35 photos, please be patient while the Flash file loads to view the slide show.