Jeff brought this to the attention of the group at the May monthly meeting.

The Pond-Dakota Mission Park, on the site of the 1840s Oak Grove Mission, recently got nine new interpretive signs throughout the park to tell the story of the area’s history. The new signage was dedicated by Mayor Gene Winstead on 27 April 2008.

The fruit of almost two years of research and editing, the signs allow visitors to enjoy a self-guided tour any day of the year. The signs include a large number of historic photographs, commissioned illustrations, and reproductions of Seth Eastman artwork.

Signs include:

• Dakota Missions on the Minnesota Froniter
• Missionaries to the Dakotas
• Pond Family Heritage Timeline
• Changing Landscapes
• Gideo and Agnes Pond House
• Oak Grove Mission
• Dakota Life, and
• Minnesota River Valley.

The City of Bloomington website has a picture of one of the signs.

Upcoming programs at the Pond-Dakota Mission include:

U.S.-Dakota War Documentary, by Sydney Beane, Sunday May 18 at 2 p.m. Syd Beane will talk about his upcoming U.S.-Dakota War Documentary, which he is negotiating to have aired on a national TV network. Syd is a descendant of Chief Cloud Man, Seth Eastman and his wife Stands Sacred (daughter of Cloud Man), Mary Nancy Eastman, who married Many Lightnings (Jacob Eastman) and Rev. John Eastman.

Working with Horn, by David Vavreck, Sunday June 1, drop-in program from 2-4 p.m. Meet one of America’s few remaining horn workers, see a wide variety of horn products, and even try using horner’s hand tools. Until the invention of synthetics in the later 19th cnetury, animal horn was used all over the world as a raw material in the manufacture of thousands of products such as combs, spoons, powder horns, and more.

House tours from 1:30-4 p.m. both days.