Nestled on a historic plot in Lancaster County, a patch of corn, beans and squash is sowing seeds of cultural understanding and community collaboration.

This spring marks the third season for a Three Sisters Garden at the 1719 Museum, a landmark site that anchors both Mennonite and Indigenous histories. Situated near the oldest Mennonite meetinghouse in the western hemisphere and the Lancaster Longhouse—a 2013 reconstruction of a traditional Indigenous multi-family home—the garden showcases three crops that have sustained generations.

Heather Strahin, 1719 Museum administrator, has partnered with multiple members of Circle Legacy Center (CLC), a local nonprofit dedicated to preserving and celebrating Native American history and culture. Together, they’ve created the garden project to serve as a living expression of shared histories between European settlers and the Indigenous peoples that have lived in Lancaster County long before the settlers’ arrival—fostering a deeper appreciation for agricultural traditions that have endured for centuries.

A Garden Rooted in Ancient Wisdom

The legend and concept of the Three Sisters Garden is rooted in Indigenous folklore and agricultural wisdom passed from generation to generation. For centuries, Haudenosaunee (Iroquois), Lenape and other First Nations have cultivated corn (maize), beans and squash together, using the natural symbiosis of the three plants to create a sustainable, mutually supportive growing system. Corn provides a vertical structure for the beans to climb, beans fix nitrogen in the soil to enrich it and squash spreads across the ground, shading the soil to conserve moisture and control weeds. These companion crops are more than just a farming technique—they are a symbol of community.

“CLC has been instrumental in this project, with several members—including president MaryAnn Robins (Onondaga), interim executive director Jess McPherson (Susquehanna) and vice president Joanne McLaughlin (Passamaquoddy)—graciously donating their time to educate me on Indigenous agriculture. They continue to teach me how to properly plant and tend the garden in a way that respects tradition. I am deeply grateful for their educational oversight and crucial, ongoing support to help our guests understand the pre-European history of this area,” reflects Strahin.

Through careful selection of heritage and Indigenous-adapted seed varieties, Strahin has sourced seeds from community stewards with long histories of cultivation. She explains, “I was incredibly fortunate to source seeds that would have grown in southeastern Pennsylvania during the 17th and 18th centuries. Becoming acquainted with the work of William Woys Weaver, a local food ethnographer and founder of Roughwood Center for Heritage Seedways (RCHS), I was able to source seeds that may have otherwise been unavailable. RCHS preserves over 5,000 seed varieties that are historically and culturally significant to Indigenous, Pennsylvania Dutch, African American and international communities.

Among the crops featured in the garden are Delaware Black Flour Corn (Sèhsapsink), a rare variety that has survived the displacement of the Lenape people. This corn, recorded as early as the 1640s, is an important part of the region’s agricultural history. The beans and squash include Purple Kingsessing Bean—widely documented as the oldest Lenape pole bean—and Green Striped Maycock Squash—originally sourced from Nanticoke elder Fanny Johnson and obtained for the garden through Roughwood’s website.”

Partnership Across Cultures

The museum has always focused on interpreting the story of European settlers in the area. The addition of the Three Sisters Garden helps to weave in an additional and crucial narrative of the Indigenous peoples. “This project grew from the established partnership between the museum and CLC, and brought together my love of historic plants and my desire to be equitable in our interpretation of Indigenous and early Mennonite lifeways,” Strahin emphasizes.

Having worked together since 2007, the parent organization of the 1719 Museum, Mennonite Life (ML), proposed an Honor and Healing Commitment with Circle Legacy Center in 2010. The Honor and Healing Commitment was renewed in April 2025 and saw gifts of handmade leather figurines and beebalm exchanged between CLC and ML. A symbol of friendship and a healthy working relationship, beebalm is a native flower beneficial to pollinators and has been used medicinally by both Indigenous and Swiss-German people for centuries.

These gestures of partnership over the last 19 years have built what endures today, which includes educational programming of historical and contemporary Susquehanna Indigenous communities. The 1719 Museum and CLC have worked together to interpret these histories, cultural practices and their deep relationship with the land through community events and shared stewardship of the Lancaster Longhouse. This collaboration has become a cornerstone of the museum’s mission to present a fuller picture of the region’s past.

McPherson adds, “Just as we did in 1719, Indigenous people on the lower Susquehanna come together from many cultures and continue to make partnerships that sustain our generations. Jöhehgöh (the Seneca word for the three sisters or the ‘life sustainers’) nourish our communities, the people, the land, the many living things, and importantly, each other. I’m hopeful we can follow their example to nourish our partnerships, communities and future.”

Looking Ahead

From April to October, visitors can participate in longhouse tours led by museum docents that have been trained by CLC representatives to learn about archaeological findings, and now, experience firsthand the agricultural practices that Indigenous peoples have sustained for centuries.

As spring turns to summer, the Three Sisters climb skyward—corn reaching up, beans curling up their stalks and squash blanketing the ground. The garden is more than just a visual display of agriculture; it is a living classroom that continues to cultivate respect, understanding and shared stewardship.

Looking to the future, Strahin hopes to move the garden closer to the longhouse, add native sunflower varieties—known as the “fourth sister”—and expand the Three Sisters Garden as a testament to the power of collaboration and cultural continuity. She reminds people that “heirloom seeds provide a tangible connection to the cultures and traditions of the past. We can literally taste history.”

The 1719 Museum—located at 1849 Hans Herr Dr., in Willow Street—welcomes guests on Fridays and Saturdays, and tour reservations are encouraged. For more information or to make reservations, call 717-464-4438 or visit 1719Museum.org. Circle Legacy Center—located at 328 W. Orange St., in Lancaster—holds a free community event on the second Friday of each month, September through May. For more information, visit CircleLegacyCenter.com.

Trella Dubetz is a trauma-informed bodyworker, holistic and human design practitioner, graphic designer and writer based in Lancaster and Huntingdon counties. She blends creativity with healing practices to support personal transformation. Connect with her at TrellaDubetz.com.