The Santa Rosa County Creek Indian Tribe plans to open a Native American cultural center later this year in Milton.

Groundbreaking on the 4,000-square-foot building is scheduled for Aug. 1. But more important than the shovels in the ground is the center's mission to preserve Native American knowledge, artifacts and culture.

Much of Native American history has been lost, and Dan Helms, an officer with the Santa Rosa County Creek Indian Tribe, doesn't want one more artifact to be forgotten.

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Helms' grandmother was a Creek Indian, though she didn't talk about her heritage or acknowledge it because of a fear of retribution she learned from her own relatives.

"So much of what was done throughout history was wiped out, the race and culture," said Helms, the tribe's vice chief. "Our goal is to keep that from happening. The memories, the knowledge, the culture of Native Americans, to keep them from disappearing all together."

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Helms added, "We do what we do in the overall hope that it will help all people have tolerance and compassion for people of other cultures."

Helms said one of the artifacts ready to go into the museum is a peace pipe used by Crow Nation leader Plenty Coups after he reached an agreement with an official from the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Helms said there are documents to confirm the pipe's authenticity.

"The Smithsonian wants the peace pipe, and they can't have it," Helms said.

Helms' said the persecution and upheaval of Native American culture has roots dating back to 1830 when President Andrew Jackson signed into law the Indian Removal Act.

Treaties under the law allowed the government to take Native American land east of the Mississippi River in exchange for land to the west of the river. The tribes that went along with the act became citizens of their home state. Many tribes resisted relocation.

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In tribes' efforts to stay ahead of the law and avoid the forced relocation, many moved around, and they moved quickly. In the process, elements of Native American life was lost or abandoned.

The cultural center will aim to highlight some of these lost elements through more than 3,000 artifacts in a museum, a genealogy resource center and space for hosting educational presentations.

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Helms said another goal of the cultural center is to be "a destination for field trips."

The cultural center is being built with a second IMPACT 100 grant. The organization that provides grants to nonprofit groups awarded the Creek Indian Tribe an initial grant for the construction of infrastructure work, such as roads, underground utilities, a septic system and restroom facilities.

The building, which will be located at 4750 Willard Norris Road, was funded with another grant of about $108,000.

Helms said he hopes the cultural center will be open by the end of November, in time for the Santa Rosa County Creek Indian Tribe's 27th annual powwow celebration the week before Thanksgiving. This year's powwow will be dedicated to former Creek Indian Tribe Vice Chief Lloyd Hinote, who died in mid-November.

"He was instrumental in getting this," said Helms of Hinote. "It's on his shoulders that we're standing."