"The Mohegan Tribe has more than $2 billion worth of property at its Mohegan Sun casino, but the tiny Tantaguidgeon Museum off Church Lane in Uncasville, not far from the smoky glass and chrome gambling halls just up Route 32, is “the tribe's most important building.”

That was the assessment of tribal Vice Chairwoman Lynn Malerba at grand reopening ceremonies for the circa-1931 Tantaguidgeon Museum last week. Ms. Malerba stood outside the small stone building as she reminisced about traipsing through the nearby woods as a girl to visit the museum and munch on cookies provided by the tribe's late medicine woman, Gladys Tantaquidgeon.

The Mohegan Tribe, which has always had a presence in Montville, owes its current success and wealth to elders like Gladys Tantaguidgeon and Ms. Malerba's mother, Loretta Roberge, who kept native culture and traditions alive and passed them along from generation to generation."

Get the Story:
Editorial: Mohegan's story in small building (The New London Day 6/21)
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Earlier Story:
Telling the Native American story to all (The New London Day 6/19)