March 27, 2009
Contact: Deanna Beacham
Virginia Council on Indians
(804)225-2084
deanna@governor.virginia.gov
--Va. Beach marker honors two towns of the Chesapeake Indians and archaeological remains of Indian settlements in Great Neck neighborhood--
A new historical highway marker issued by the Department of Historic Resources that commemorates the Chesapeake Indian towns of Apasus and Chesepiooc and archaeological discoveries of Indian settlements that date back at least 1000 years before English colonists arrived in present day Virginia will be dedicated in Virginia Beach.
The dedication ceremony will take place 11 a.m., Wednesday, April 8, at the Trail Center in First Landing State Park, where the remains of 64 Chesapeake Indians were reburied by members of the Nansemond Indian tribe in 1997. Sponsored by the Virginia Council on Indians, the Department of Conservation and Recreation, and the Department of Historic Resources, the event is free and open to the public.
Scholarship on the Chesapeake Indians derives in part from archaeological research conducted during the 1970s and 1980s in the Great Neck neighborhood of Virginia Beach. That research “yielded evidence of continual habitation for at least one thousand years before 1600 A.D.,” as the new marker states. “Several house sites were found, along with part of a palisade, pottery, trash pits, shell beads, and stone tools,” the marker also reads.
Chief Emeritus Oliver L. Perry Sr. of the Nansemond Tribe, who led the repatriation and reburial effort, will be honored as a special guest during the ceremony, which will also recognize the efforts of others who participated in the archaeological research at the Great Neck site. The research was conducted by the Department of Historic Resources, as well as the Nansemond Indians.
Other speakers at the ceremony will be Kathleen S. Kilpatrick, director, of the Department of Historic Resources, which oversees the historical marker program; Fred Hazelwood, supervisor, First Landing State Park; and Chief Barry Bass of the Nansemond Indians.
"As Indian people, we believe that our ancestors' graves are sacred,” Chief Emeritus Perry said regarding the archaeology and repatriation efforts. “If burials must be disturbed, those ancestors should be treated as people rather than as objects of study. They should reinterred as quickly as possible near the place where they were originally buried. In 1997, it often took many years to accomplish this. Today, better laws and more culturally aware colleagues usually insure that our ancestors are treated with the respect they deserve" Perry added.
The “Chesapeake Indians” marker is a result of an initiative of the Department of Historic Resources to sponsor and fund new highway markers that recognize the full diversity of the state’s rich historic legacy. The markers cover topics pertaining to the people, places, and events in the history of Virginia’s American Indians, African-Americans, and women.
The marker was developed in conjunction with the Virginia Council on Indians and was approved by the Department of Historic Resources’ Board of Historic Resources in June 2008.
The marker text is:
Chesapeake Indians
In 1585, two towns of the Chesapeake Indians called Apasus and Chesepiooc were visited
by the English Roanoke expedition and later included in Theodor De Bry's map of
Virginia. Archaeological research conducted in the Great Neck neighborhood in the 1970s
and 1980s yielded evidence of continual habitation for at least one thousand years before
1600 A.D. Several house sites were found, along with part of a palisade, pottery, trash pits,
shell beads, and stone tools. The remains of 64 Chesapeake Indians from the Great Neck
site were reburied by members of the Nansemond Indian tribe at nearby First Landing
State Park in 1997.
Department of Historic Resources 2008
