Native Americans on LoCoHistory

Charlottesville's Commemoration of Sacajawea

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 13:47:15 +0000

Charlottesville has many ties to the Lewis and Clark expedition: Meriwether Lewis was born in Albemarle County, William Clark’s family lived here for a time, Thomas Jefferson is the President who sent them on their mission to “… explore the Missouri river, & such principal stream of it, as, by it’s course and communication with the waters of the Pacific ocean, … may offer the most direct & practicable water communication across this continent for the purposes of commerce” (1803 instructions), Albemarle is now home to the Lewis and Clark Exploratory Center, and, of course, we have the Lewis and Clark Statue at the intersection of McIntire, Ridge, and Main Streets.

This Friday (19th June) you have an opportunity to recognize another member of the Lewis and Clark expedition: a Lemhi Shoshone woman named Sacajawea (born 1788). She was the only woman on the mission and an invaluable guide, translator, and diplomat (smoothing relations between the anglos and Native Americans). The City of Charlottesville’s Historic Resource Committee will be hosting a dedication of an historic plaque in honor of Sacajawea at 1pm at the “Lewis and Clark” statue. This will be followed by a discussion of “The Role of Art in Interpreting History” at 2pm at the Charlottesville Design Center (at 100 5th St NE).

Sir Jeffrey

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 20:37:18 +0000

The area now called “Amherst County” was Monacan land for 1000s of years before the first Europeans arrived.

Once the Europeans arrived on the scene they had a tendency to name every feature and land mass in sight. In the case of the county, it was named after Sir Jeffrey Amherst (1717-1797), a British Baron who was eventually promoted to Field Marshal after his service in the Seven Years’ War. The North American campaign, called the French and Indian Wars (1754-63), pitted the British against French forces and their Native American allies. Amherst fought most of these battles on Canadian soil, leading to the moniker “Conquerer of Canada.” While Amherst achieved many victories, he did so at a great cost. In a letter dated 16 July 1763 then General Amherst approved a suggestion to distribute blankets to “inoculate the Indians” with smallpox from gifts of contaminated blankets (the idea was suggested by Gen Bouquet in a letter dated 13 July 1763). Gen Amherst went further and suggested that he “… try Every other method that can serve to Extirpate this Execrable Race” (Source Peter d’Errico and the website link is here. The county of Amherst was formed in 1761 when it was separated from Albemarle County. In 1806, Nelson County was created, leaving Amherst with its modern-day boundaries.

Beyond Jamestown: Virginia Indians Yesterday & Today

Sat, 02 Feb 2008 18:20:33 +0000

The Virginia Discovery Museum is hosting the exhibit “Beyond Jamestown” (curated by Karenne Wood, director of the Virginia Indian Heritage Program at the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities). The exhibit runs through May 11th and is well worth a visit for children of all ages.

While kids and their adult guests read about the vibrant heritage of Indians in Virginia, children can learn how to plant the “three sisters” (corns, beans, and squash, a nutritional assemblage that provided essential amino acids) and fish from a traditional dugout canoe.

It may be hard to see in the photos, but the fish and wooden crops have an ingenious velcro system so that kids can “catch” the fish in the net and “plant” the crops by attaching them to painted stalks.

Don’t forget to cook the food before consuming it! A lifesized longhouse or wigwam (from the Woodland period) was constructed so that kids could bring their hunted and gathered (from agricultural fields) meal and sit in front of an educational film about native peoples in Virginia. The large exhibit room also contains a reconstruction of a segregated school house (based on historic photos of the Monacan School in Amherst), activities designed to teach kids (and adults) about the past and present of Virginia Indians, and a series of installations about traditional crafts and technologies. The exhibit contains lots of valuable information about everyday life and traditions. The children I observed had to be pulled away from their fields and canoe when it was time to go. A teacher’s guide accompanies the exhibition and highlights correlations between the exhibit themes and the SOLs. With generous sponsorship from the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and Rose and Robert Capon, the admission fee is only $4. And don’t miss the historic carousel outside the museum. The exhibition was developed by the Virginia Museum of Natural History in Martinsville. P.S. If you’re over 4 feet high, but the only thing you were taught about Indians involves “massacres,” “princesses and dramatic rescues,” or mascots for sports teams, this exhibit is well worth a visit.

To learn more about Virginia Indian families at the turn of the last century, visit the 3rd floor of Newcomb Hall (just east of UVa’s Emmett Street parking garage, on UVA grounds) to view a photographic exihibit (or click here for the website).

Monasukapanough, Event

Fri, 21 Sep 2007 15:35:10 +0000

The first post on this blog was about Monasukapanough, a Native American village located along the Rivanna River. This Sunday the Quarterly Meeting of the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society will be held in the neighborhood of the archaeological site. Please join us at 2pm on September 23rd at 1701 Bentivar Drive for a talk given by Dr. Hantman (University of Virginia) and honored guests, members of the Monacan Indian Nation. Visit the ACHS website for directions and more details.

The site was excavated by Dr Jeff Hantman and Jen Aultman for several years, but is no longer visible (the remains are preserved underground). In addition to archaeological data, several researchers have devised a computer simulation to recreate the appearance of a Pomeiooc Indian settlement (in North Carolina). The Monacan village may have contained similar features and efforts are on-going to try to reconstruct a Monacan site.

For a very informative and detailed website that discusses archaeological, historical, topographical, and ethnographic evidence for Monacan Heritage in the Piedmont, please visit the Virginia Center for Digital History’s project site called “Disappearing Indians ? A Case for the Continued Inhabitance of the Virginia Piedmont by the Monacan Indians.”

Sacagawea, Clark, & Lewis

Fri, 16 Feb 2007 23:10:43 +0000

Quick quiz - where is Albemarle’s only statue of a Native American woman ? (Please email me if you know of others!)

She is hard to see, because she’s kneeling behind two men. But if you look closely at the Meriwether Lewis and William Clark statue at the intersection of West Main & Ridge Street (in downtown C-ville), you will see the Shoshone woman. Sacagawea, along with her husband Charbonneau, joined the Lewis & Clark Expedition in 1804, to serve as a translator. Visit the SacajaweaHome website or enter in her name in the search field at the on-line Journal of Lewis & Clark for first-hand accounts about her from the Lewis & Clark diaries.

The Charlottesville memorial is offically titled “Lewis and Clark Memorial,” neglecting Sacagawea all together. It was presented to C-ville in 1919, designed by Charles Keck and financed by Paul Goodloe McIntire. Take a closer look at the base of the statue for a glowing description of the westward mission and iconic images that illustrate their journey (notice the direction that the three figures are facing). To read the official description of the statue, click here.

Rivanna River

Mon, 12 Feb 2007 16:35:57 +0000

The atmospheric photo of the Rivanna is provided courtesy of Bill Emory. His blog provides wonderful images of local resources, both cultural and natural. In the past, rivers provided an important route for travel. If you imagine the county without Route 29 and envision 250 as its muddy/rocky predecessor, Three Notched Road, you can appreciate why an unobstructed waterway would be a desirable alternative for moving people and goods through the county. The main river in Albemarle is the Rivanna River. It originates in the Blue Ridge (at altitude) and then flows down, to the east, and eventually joins the James River (that connects to Richmond and then empties into the Atlantic). Prior to the arrival of Europeans, indigneous groups built villages along the river.

The river is named after Queen Anne (1665-1714) who reigned as the Queen of England, Ireland, and Scotland between 1702 and 1714. William Keppel (2nd Earl of Albemarle, see earlier post on this blog) was Queen Anne’s godchild, hence his middle name “Anne.” If you are interested in helping conserve the river, visit the Rivanna Conservation Society homepage.

Today the river can be enjoyed by canoeing or walking along its banks on the Rivanna Trail. If you look closely as you canoe or hike, you will see the remains of dams, locks, and bridges that once supported the vital trade in agricultural goods by enabling boat travel along the river’s course. These boats, referred to “bateaux,” the French word for “boats,” were specifically designed to carry heavy weights and navigate shallow waters.

Prior to the creation of canals (circa 1840), the James River bateaux were the most common means for transporting hogshead of tobacco to market. Scottsville holds a “Bateaux Festival” each year with reproductions of these boats. In 2007 the “Batteau Night in Scottsville” will be held at 4pm on June 20th. Visit the Scottsville Museum Website for more information.

Monasukapanough

Thu, 08 Feb 2007 03:45:14 +0000

Since this blog is focusing on historic periods (roughly post 1700), I won’t have the space to describe the indigenous populations in great detail. But I will occasionally discuss the historic records that document the presence of the Monacan people in the region (who arrived long before the European settlers). For example, Captain John Smith’s 1607 map of Virginia indicates a region inhabited by “Monacans.”

This map includes a reference to Monasukapanough, located along the Rivanna River near the present-day Polo Grounds Road. Over 150 years later, in 1788, Thomas Jefferson published his Notes on the State of Virginia. In it, on page 102, he refers to the Monacans, attempting to trace their linguistic heritage. His fascination with their language and material culture may have begun as a boy when he (unknowingly) played across the river from Monasukapanough at the home of his boyhood friend, Dabney Carr (today the location of the Carrsbrook subdivision off Route 29). A couple pages later, Jefferson describes his excavation of an Indian Burial mound which he calls a “barrow” which later earned him the sobriquet “father of American archaeology” (his digging techniques reveal a sophisticated understanding of archaeological stratigraphy, post-depositional forces, and faunal taphonomy). In addition, he recalls an event that he witnessed in the 1750s: “…a party passing…through the part of the country where this barrow is, went through the woods directly to it, without any instructions or enquiry, and having staid about it some time, with expressions which were construed to be those of sorrow, they returned to the high road, which they had left about half a dozen miles to pay this visit, and pursued their journey” (p. 106).

Jefferson’s observations represents a rare, first-hand, recorded account of Native American rituals in Albemarle County. To the right is a 19th Century representation of a Native American burial mound. For more information on the Monacan Village, visit, http://www.vcdh.virginia.edu/encounter/projects/monacans/Overview/index.html To read more about Jefferson’s observations of Native American features and customs go to: http://etext.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/JefVirg.html To learn more about the Monacans, visit their museum in Amherst or take a Virtual Trip.