Kansas Reports in!

Lots of action going on with the project now! The Owl camera is in Virginia, soon to head to Maryland! Martha in Missouri did a Bat Cam shoot right across the line in Kansas. The Bat cam is on it's way to Indiana.

Here's Martha's Kansas report and photos :


I photographed the Shawnee Indian Mission.

This Mission was built in Kansas near the Santa Fe Trail. Building began, and the school opened October 1839. Native children of many tribes were sent to this school to learn basic academics, manual arts, and agriculture. Some of the tribes represented were the Kaw (Kansa), Munsee, Delaware, Ottawa, Chippewa, Otoe, Osage, Cherokee, Peoria, Kickapoo, Potawatomi, Wea, Gros Ventres, Omaha, and Wyandot. At the height of its activity, the mission was an establishment of more than two thousand acres with sixteen buildings, including the three large brick structures, which still stand, and an enrollment of nearly two hundred Indian boys and girls from the ages of five to 23. The school closed in 1862.

I have a strange feeling about this mission. I love it, it's beautiful. the buildings are amazing, the land is amazing, BUT I also get really creeped out there, too. when I walk thru the buildings I feel sad. like there were kids there who really didn't want to be there, away from their homes... so it's a love/hate place. I can't wait to see all the pix and stories from these cameras.