Peacemaking and Mobility

Peacemaking and Mobility. Machicomoco State Park. , From 1100 to 1650 Algonquian life revolved around towns located along rivers, including the Powhatan (James), Pamunkey (York), Rappahanock (same name), and Patawomeck (Potomac). Waterways served as transportation corridors, a source of food and materials, and as a basis for naming communities. A name could refer to a river, a person, and a community. Riverside towns were active throughout the annual cycle and were used for ceremonial gatherings, which contributed to placemaking in the Algonquian world. Placemaking is the process whereby where people come together to create community in a location and to define its importance. , , The Powhatans were skilled mapmakers, capable of charting the Chesapeake estuary and areas beyond in considerable detail. From these maps and others translated by early colonists, we know the Algonquian names of more than 100 places in Tsenacomacoh. Powhatans traveled long distances along the waterways of the Chesapeake estuary in dugout canoes, and names often reflected this waterborne perspective. Appamattuck, a town along the Powhatan (James) River refers to a “trap-fishing river,” while the town of Pawtuxent translates as “at the rapids.” A number of other place names highlight the relationship between land and water: Winsack was “pleasant place near the river mouth.” Prominent towns were often named for the appearance from the water: Warraskoyac, the “point of land” and Pissacoack, the “muddy place.” , , Longhouses: Historical residential dwellings built by Native people including Algonquian-speaking tribes in the Powhatan Confederacy. Sharpened poles and woven strips of bark were used to make the curvilinear frames and waterproof cladding.