Video: New Heritage Center will Celebrate Chickasaw Culture and Contributions

TUPELO, Miss. (WCBI) –Plans are announced for the building of a multi-million dollar Chickasaw Heritage Center in Tupelo.

Representatives of the Chickasaw Inkana Foundation, Chickasaw Nation, National Park Service and the city of Tupelo made the announcement during a press conference Friday morning.

The Cultural Heritage Center will be located on a 162 acre tract of land adjacent to the Natchez Trace Parkway and will tell the story of how the Chickasaws lived in Mississippi for hundreds of years.

Officials say they have been working on this project for decades.

“Today is a pinnacle of all that work, we are going to move forward, together to create this cultural heritage center. It means a lot to us because this is our homeland, this is where we moved from in the 1800s, I think it’s important to the people here because it’s part of the long term history and heritage of this community and this state.”

Next, officials will hire architects to design the project, then funding will be secured for the heritage center.