Blackbear

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http://www.nynewsday.com/news/local/...-apconnecticut

August 4, 2005, 8:13 AM EDT


NORWICH, Conn. -- A state agency has given the Mohegan tribe the green light to demolish the Norwich Masonic Temple and restore the tribal burial ground under it.

The Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism Wednesday unanimously granted the tribe's request to tear down the building.

The tribe will quickly follow through on plans to demolish the building and restore the Royal Mohegan Burial Ground, tribal member Melissa Tantaquidgeon Zobel said.

"It's a sigh of relief," Tantaquidgeon Zobel said. "This is a project that has been in the works literally centuries. The folks I took with us as a team felt very responsible for fulfilling the wishes of our ancestors."

The tribe had tried to keep the site undeveloped since the last tribal burial there in 1876. After unsuccessful tribal lawsuits in the 1890s and 1930s to spare the 3.41-acre property from development, the tribe purchased the land from the City of Norwich in 1999 for slightly more than $1 million.

Mohegan Chief Uncas is buried somewhere on the site, although the exact location is unknown. All Mohegan descendants had the option of being buried there in 1876 after the tribe's reservation ended in 1870.

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Information from: Norwich Bulletin

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