At the confluence of Turtle Creek and the Rock River, from about 1822-1832, there was a very large Ho-Chunk settlement called Ke-Chunk (Kečąk) or Turtle Village. You can learn more about Ke-Chunk (pronounced kay-chunk) Village and the Ho-Chunk people in the links below.
Land Acknowledgement
A land acknowledgment is a powerful way of showing respect and honoring the Indigenous Peoples of the land on which we work and live. Acknowledgment is a way of resisting the erasure of Indigenous histories and working towards honoring and inviting the truth. Nature At The Confluence board members voted on our own land acknowledgement on October 14, 2021.
Nature At The Confluence Land Acknowledgement
Nature At The Confluence acknowledges that we occupy ancestral Ho-Chunk land, where their people lived at Ke-chunk-nee-shun-nuk-ra, or Turtle village, until an 1832 treaty forced them to cede this territory. For decades federal and state governments repeatedly, but unsuccessfully, sought to forcibly remove the Ho-Chunk from Wisconsin and Illinois. Through our programs we seek to educate visitors about the Ho-Chunk’s legacy of resilience, and honor their ancestors that cherished this land.
Websites
The Ho-Chunk, also known as Hoocąągra or Winnebago, are a Siouan-speaking Native American people whose historic territory includes parts of Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, and Illinois. Today, Ho-Chunk people are enrolled in two federally recognized tribes, the Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin and the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska. – From Wikipedia
- The Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin Website
- The Encyclopedia of Hočąk (Winnebago) Mythology
- The Ways – Wisconsin Public Television
- Ho-Chunk Territory Map
- The Hoocąk Waaziija Haci Language Division – dedicated to ensuring the Hoocąk Language continues to be a living language
- Ho-Chunk Gardening Methods – Mississippi Valley Archeological center, UW-LaCrosse
- Wisconsin First Nations – University of Wisconsin’s School of Education
- Four Directions Institute – Winnebago
Books
- Pioneer Beloit – 1830-1839, Arthur L. Luebke, 1985 – Available at Nature At The Confluence and Beloit Historical Society.
- Four Seasons of Corn: A Winnebago Tradition, 1996 by Sally Hunter
- People of the Big Voice: Photographs of Ho-chunk Families by Charles Van Schaick, 1879-1942, Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2011
Videos
- Ho-Chunk History 2015 PBS Wisconsin – Andy Thundercloud shares the oral tradition of his people.
- Ke-Chunk: We Onced Lived Here | The Ho-Chunk of Ke-Chunk Village – Short Video by Nature At The Confluence featuring the names of the Ke-Chunk (Turtle) Village people.
Historical Papers and Other Resources
- The Ho-Chunk Courting Flute Story – MP4 File – Read by Elliott Garvin
- The Search for Ke-Chunk – 2012 Investigations in South Beloit, Winnebago County, Illinois – By William Green, Logan Museum of Anthropology, Beloit College, Beloit, WI (retired)
- The Wisconsin Archeologist, Vol. 9 No. 1 (October, 1929) – Indian village and camp sites of the Lower Rock River in Wisconsin
- Indian Agent Roll List of Turtle Village, John Kinzie, 1829-1832 – With Translations of Winnebago Names by John Blackhawk & Richard Dieterle [in Brackets]
- Winnebago Villages and Chieftains of the Lower Rock River Region – by Dr. Norton William Jipson
- Ke-Chunk Interpretive Sign at Nature At The Confluence – Turtle Village on Turtle Creek in South Beloit, IL
- Corn Moon Migrations: Ho-Chunk Belonging, Removal, and Return in the Early Nineteenth-Century Western Great Lakes by Libby Rose Tronnes
- How the Ho-Chunk Resisted Removal– Wisconsin Public Radio University of The Air with Stephen Kantrowitz, April 22, 2018
Click on image below to download a PDF of this interpretive sign.
