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    Virginia's Origin Story

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    Meghan O'Dell
    The document summarizes a visit to Machicomoco State Park in Virginia, the state's newest park focused on showcasing Native American heritage. The park was established on the site of a former Native American village along the York River. It provides archaeological evidence of over 10,000 years of continuous inhabitation and interprets the history and culture of Virginia's original inhabitants through numerous exhibits, plantings of native species, and consultation with 11 recognized tribes. The park aims to tell the stories of Native Americans that have long been overlooked and give a more complete view of Virginia's origins.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    Virginia's Origin Story

    Uploaded by

    Meghan O'Dell
    31 views3 pages
    The document summarizes a visit to Machicomoco State Park in Virginia, the state's newest park focused on showcasing Native American heritage. The park was established on the site of a former Native American village along the York River. It provides archaeological evidence of over 10,000 years of continuous inhabitation and interprets the history and culture of Virginia's original inhabitants through numerous exhibits, plantings of native species, and consultation with 11 recognized tribes. The park aims to tell the stories of Native Americans that have long been overlooked and give a more complete view of Virginia's origins.

    Original Description:

    0422 AAA Explorer Tidewater: Virginia's Origin Story

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    The document summarizes a visit to Machicomoco State Park in Virginia, the state's newest park focused on showcasing Native American heritage. The park was established on the site of a former Native American village along the York River. It provides archaeological evidence of over 10,000 years of continuous inhabitation and interprets the history and culture of Virginia's original inhabitants through numerous exhibits, plantings of native species, and consultation with 11 recognized tribes. The park aims to tell the stories of Native Americans that have long been overlooked and give a more complete view of Virginia's origins.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    31 views3 pages

    Virginia's Origin Story

    Uploaded by

    Meghan O'Dell
    The document summarizes a visit to Machicomoco State Park in Virginia, the state's newest park focused on showcasing Native American heritage. The park was established on the site of a former Native American village along the York River. It provides archaeological evidence of over 10,000 years of continuous inhabitation and interprets the history and culture of Virginia's original inhabitants through numerous exhibits, plantings of native species, and consultation with 11 recognized tribes. The park aims to tell the stories of Native Americans that have long been overlooked and give a more complete view of Virginia's origins.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 3

    virginia’s

    originstory Learn about Native American heritage


    on a visit to our newest state park
    BY LARRY BLEIBERG

    A
    s I drive across the towering George meeting Machicomoco
    P. Coleman Memorial Bridge to I’m road-tripping to Machicomoco State Park,
    Gloucester Point, the York River looks Virginia’s newest state park. An Algonquin tribal word,
    intimidating, a powerful waterway Machicomoco means “special meeting place.” The
    pouring into the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. riverfront property provides something visitors can’t
    What would it have been like 400 years ago, find elsewhere: the most complete look at Virginia’s
    I wonder, when Pocahontas or her father, Chief story through the eyes of its original inhabitants.
    Powhatan, paddled these deep tidal waters in a “Never in its existence has the commonwealth
    dugout canoe? designated a site so replete with rich native histo-
    This river was certainly familiar to the famous ry as Machicomoco,” said Stephen R. Adkins, chief
    daughter and father. They lived upstream and of the Chickahominy tribe, at the park’s opening
    would undoubtedly have explored the shoreline, ceremony last spring. “This offers just a unique, un-
    likely visiting my destination today: a tiny peninsu- precedented opportunity to tell those stories that
    la not far from the bridge. have been held hostage so long.”
    The small American Indian community who re- Indeed, I don’t remember learning much about
    sided there grew corn, beans, and squash, and har- the state’s original Native Americans from my
    vested oysters from the waters that surrounded fourth-grade Virginia history class. I’m happy the
    their home. Archaeological evidence suggests peo- park is giving me another chance.
    ple had been inhabiting the area for 10,000 years. The 645-acre preserve was developed in consul-
    Today, the land is once again a center for Native tation with the 11 Native American tribes recognized
    American life. by the state of Virginia: the Chickahominy, Eastern

    COURTESY VIRGINIA STATE PARKS/BETTY SAXMAN

    The park’s open-


    air steel and wood
    interpretive pavillion
    was inspired by
    traditional Native
    American buildings.

    AAA.COM APRIL/MAY/JUNE 2022 AAA EXPLORER | 35


    Clockwise from Chickahominy, Mattaponi, Upper Mattaponi, and eventually donated it to the state in 2017 to
    left: Algonquin make the park.
    Monacan, Nansemond, Nottoway, Cheroenhaka
    words are
    etched into (Nottoway), Pamunkey, Patawomeck, and The area remains a sanctuary of woods, farm
    steps; Chief Rappahannock. The grounds were designed by fields, creeks, and low-lying islands that might
    Walter D. Charlottesville-based Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape have been recognizable to Pocahontas and
    “Red Hawk” her peers.
    Architects, which has worked on award-winning
    Brown III of the
    Cheroenhaka park and cultural projects around the world.
    Nottoway Indian Shaleigh R. Howells, cultural resource direc- Tidewater Timeline
    Tribe, at the tor and museum director of the Pamunkey Indian While the park offers typical amenities, including
    Machicomoco a campground, boat launch, and small gift shop,
    Museum and Cultural Center, said Virginia’s other
    State Park’s
    dedication; parks might typically have a marker mentioning in- it’s the interpretive area that draws me in on this
    a map shows digenous people. At the new park, the story goes sunny day. I drive about a mile from the entrance
    the reach of much deeper. and stop in a parking area near a rise overlook-

    CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: LARRY BLEIBERG; COURTESY VIRGINIA STATE PARKS (2)
    the Powhatan “It’s very different, it’s not 1 or 2 signs,” said ing a tidal inlet. In front of me, a timeline of en-
    Confederacy.
    Howells. “It’s solely based around the stories of graved stones covering 20,000 years of history
    Native Americans and how they want to tell their runs across the ground for hundreds of feet.
    stories and history.” The story of Machicomoco, I learn, begins in
    Finding Machicomoco, though, proves a little 18,000 BC during the last Ice Age, which creat-
    tricky. I turn off busy US 17 and follow a county ed the Tidewater river systems that shaped Native
    road by farms and rural homes. Just as I begin to American life here.
    wonder if I’m lost, nearing what feels like a gated Walking the timeline, I see the American Indian
    community, I pull up to what I hope is the park’s story unfold. Thousands of years later, hunter-
    entrance booth. (Spoiler alert: It was.) gatherers began to appear in coastal Virginia,
    As I learn, we are lucky even to have a park. eventually forming large settlements in the
    More than a decade ago, the land was sold to Chesapeake floodplains. Then came contact with
    developers, who built the entrance building, a Europeans, beginning with Spanish missionaries
    floating dock, and a 3-mile ring road for a lux- in 1570, leading to wars with the British, forcible
    ury subdivision. But the developer faced finan- removal from land, and, finally, centuries later, the
    cial challenges, and before ground was broken on park’s dedication.
    homes, a private foundation purchased the land Along the way, I pass native plants like sage,

    36 | AAA EXPLORER APRIL/MAY/JUNE 2022 AAA.COM


    Land of 5 seasons
    The new park features 3 rental yurts and 5 miles
    of paths. Its handicap-accessible launch offers
    kayakers access to creeks and the York River,
    which American Indians called the Pamunkey. But
    throughout Machicomoco are places to learn
    about the land’s original inhabitants.
    Strolling through the park, I find Algonquin
    words etched into boardwalks and steps. The
    culture begins to come alive through words like
    pissacoack, which means, “muddy place,” or mat-
    tapanient, which translates as “stopping place on
    a path.”
    The park honey locust, and bluestem grass, and reach a In another area, a panel describes the indige-
    overlooks tidal shelter, inspired by the longhouses favored by nous Virginian’s 5 seasons. Why, I suddenly wonder,
    creeks and inlets
    Virginia’s American Indians. did I assume there had to be 4?
    that lead to the
    York River. The traditional buildings were constructed from For the Native Americans, living in the coast-
    saplings bent into hoops and then covered with al plain meant an early spring period for planting
    bark and woven mats. Machicomoco’s modern and fish runs; summer for foraging wild plants; late
    version is made from steel and black locust timbers summer and early fall for harvesting; late fall for
    topped by metal panels. feasts and ceremonies; and winter for forest hunts.
    The park’s location is significant because it was Earlier, I had asked Howells, the Pamunkey mu-
    the gateway to Werowocomoco, the Powhattan seum director, how best to experience the park.
    Confederacy’s capital and ceremonial center, Take time to absorb it, she told me. Reflect on its
    which was located about 10 miles upstream. complex history and admire the waterfront land-
    (Considered sacred by Native Americans, the for- scape, home to deer, foxes, turkeys, and, as I saw,
    mer capital is now owned by the National Park an eagle’s nest with a commanding river view.
    Service and closed to the public as it undergoes “It is culturally significant land for Native
    extensive archaeological research.) Americans,” she said. But there’s more to it. “It’s
    That makes Machicomoco the best spot to also really pretty.”
    learn about the Powhatan Confederacy. The group, Looking out to the inlets, where pods of bot-
    which included 15,000 people from 30 tribes, be- tlenose dolphins often congregate and the sun
    Read about gan to form in the 1200s, and grew at its peak gleams off the shifting water, I can’t disagree. And
    things to to cover 16,000 square miles, stretching from for all that has changed in the last 400 years, I have
    do around Washington, D.C., to the North Carolina border. to believe that Powhatan and Pocahontas must
    Machicomoco in Prime real estate, then and now. have enjoyed the view too.
    the digital-extra Werowocomoco is also where Captain John
    version of this Smith, the founder of Jamestown, was taken af-
    article at ter his capture. During his time there, Powhatan, Freelance writer LARRY BLEIBERG lives in
    aaa.com known as the “chief of chiefs,” offered to sell him Charlottesville, Virginia—land once home to the
    /explorer. the land that’s now Machicomoco park. Monacan Indian Nation.

    More Native sites in Virginia


    Take a 50-mile drive northwest of Machicomoco to visit the Head to the mountains to learn about tribal traditions at the
    Pamunkey Indian Museum and Cultural Center. The Monacan Ancestral Museum. Near Lynchburg, the museum honors
    Pamunkey Indians were part of the Powhatan Confederacy, the Sioux-speaking Monacan, who once controlled much of Virginia’s
    and this decades-old institution was the first opened by a Piedmont area and were rivals of the Powhatan Confederacy. The
    Virginia tribe. Located on its 1,200-acre reservation, exhibits museum features an 1870 log cabin schoolhouse and a century-old
    LARRY BLEIBERG

    at the museum include a dugout canoe, ancient stone mission church. Exhibits include pottery, baskets, beadwork, and
    points, and a treaty signed with the English in 1677. Open by photographs. Open Tuesday to Saturday. Call for appointment.
    appointment. (804) 843-4792; pamunkey.org. (434) 946-5391; monacannation.com/ancestral-museum.html.

    38 | AAA EXPLORER APRIL/MAY/JUNE 2022 AAA.COM

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