NEW ENGLAND’S AND VIRGINIA’S NATIVE HERITAGE
If you visit the Claremore, Oklahoma, home of famous early-20th-century ‘Cherokee Cowboy’ actor and entertainer Will Rogers, you may be reminded of his famous quip: “My ancestors didn’t come over on the Mayflower, but we met the boat” … and that might tempt you to visit those descendants of the native Wampanoag who, in effect, did meet the boat when the Pilgrims landed in Massachusetts in 1620. Their heritage is honoured in the
Plimoth Patuxet Museum just outside Plymouth, and there are other indigenous associations throughout the five New England states.
The Foxwoods Resort Casino complex located in Ledyard, Connecticut, and owned by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe has seven world-class casinos as well as one of celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay’s Hell’s Kitchens, and there’s also a nearby tribal museum; Maine’s Wabanaki tell their story in Bar Harbor’s Smithsonian-affiliated 'bbe Museum; the Ethan 'llen Museum in Burlington, Vermont includes a reconstructed Abenaki native village; and, if you visit the
Sly Fox Den Too restaurant in Charlestown, Rhode Island, you can indulges in a native-inspired meal created by Sherry Pocknett, who was, in 2023, named the first indigenous woman to win an ‘Oscar of the Food World’, a James Beard Award as Best Chef: Northeast.
Or you can visit the Mattaponi and Pamunkey tribes who have inhabited coastal northeastern Virginia for up to 15,000 years. Their ancestors interacted with the English settlers who settled in Jamestown in 1607 and were members of the Powhatan Confederacy whose powerful namesake chief was the father of Pocahontas. And she, in turn, became the native face of the New World to England when, in 1617, she visited the Court of King James I with her tobacco farmer husband, John Rolfe.
A statue of Pocahontas stands now in Historic Jamestowne; on the grounds of the nearby Jamestown Settlement living history museum is a recreated native town tended by both indigenous and non-native staff; and among the statues of prominent Virginia women in Richmond’s State Capitol grounds is one of Pocahontas’ great niece, Cockacoeske, the 17thcentury esteemed chief of the Pamukeys.
VISIT THE MATTAPONI AND PAMUNKEY TRIBES WHO HAVE INHABITED COASTAL NORTH-EASTERN VIRGINIA FOR UP TO 15,000 YEARS. THEIR ANCESTORS INTERACTED WITH THE ENGLISH SETTLERS WHO SETTLED IN JAMESTOWN IN 1607 AND WERE MEMBERS OF THE POWHATAN CONFEDERACY WHOSE POWERFUL NAMESAKE CHIEF WAS THE FATHER OF POCAHONTAS.