Story

“Until the lion learns how to write, every story will glorify the hunter.”

-An African Proverb

“Teach your children what we have taught our children… that the earth is our mother. Whatever befalls the earth, befalls the sons and daughters of the earth. This we know. The earth does not belong to us, we belong to the earth. This we know. All things are connected…”

-Chief Seattle

We see a place where people of all ages

Can meet freely and peacefully engage in “difficult dialogues” for the benefit of each other and equity for all;
Can research ancestry, stories from the past, and those truths of history that are often unknown and untold;
Can observe, research, learn from and experience the interrelatedness and resiliency among all life systems;
Can create or re--discover stories of past, present and future art forms--expressions of stories from among all peoples: poetry, music, dance and creative storytelling
Can spend time for self-renewal, meditation, prayer and quiet reflection

Programs Ongoing and Emerging (Click images below for more information)

African American History in Powhatan

• Creating programs to explore ancestry research

• Preserving pictures and stories from the local Powhatan community

(Photo: Hester Pitman-Gray)

St. Francis de Sales High School and St Emma Military Academy

St. Francis & St Emma Schools

will be a focus point for
historic research and preservation. Founded in the 1890’s by the Drexel-Morrell families, the
center will engage alumni and friends in documenting and telling the story of St. Katharine
Drexel, the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, the Spiritan (formerly called Holy Ghost Fathers
and Brothers) and the alumni, teachers and friends of these two unique schools.

Partnerships & Collaboration

with other organizations with similar goals will be strategically
planned and developed. The Drexel-Morrell Center will encourage national and local
organizations with similar mission and values to enjoy the site as a gathering and learning place.

Programs

will be encouraged that enrich our human narrative for genuine peace and justice on
our Earth. True and complete history will be explored and retold by and with those groups who have been under-represented in past studies.

St. Katharine Drexel

11/26/1858 to 03/03/1955

St. Katharine Drexel was a woman who listened with her heart and her mind. She walked among and
talked with Native American and African American peoples during an oppressively overt and racist
period of our US history. She listened, responded and lived her life as a vocation in response to God’s
call to a “total gift of herself.”
READ MORE: https://www.katharinedrexel.org/sisters-of-the-blessed-sacrament/

Rosemont House

The Rosemont House in Powhatan Virginia, was purchased in December 2020 to become a place of STORY and LAND, a site of ecosocial justice. It is a gathering place for education, conversation and enrichment. It is also a place for research, preservation, and well-being for present and future EARTH STORIES.

The Rosemont House has become The new Drexel-Morrell Center.