Plenty Of Artifacts And Heritage Items Now On Display At New Museum

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — A museum devoted to Native American heritage has opened in the North Texas town of Cleburne.  

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram (http://bit.ly/1xx1OTL ) reports the ribbon-cutting for the Big Bear Native American Museum was held Friday. The 2,000-square-foot museum houses artifacts showing how Native Americans lived throughout the United States.

David Murdoch, chairman of the Johnson County Heritage Foundation, says it has artifacts dating as far back as 17,000 years ago, among them arrowheads and agricultural tools.

The museum, located on the grounds of the Chisholm Trail Outdoor Museum, came about in large part thanks to Leonard "Big Bear" Beal Sr., a Grandview man who died in 2012. Beal, who was one-quarter Cherokee, donated his collection of Native American artifacts to the Chisholm Trail museum.