The First People

The First People. . , The Heritage of Indigenous Communities Starting about 10,000 BCE, Indigenous people came to the American South as hunter gatherers, camping near rivers and streams. , By 1,000 CE, Indigenous people, like the Euro-American settlers who came after them, had become farmers. They established semi-permanent river villages and grew corn, squash, beans, pumpkins, and sunflowers. In 1701, English explorer John Lawson traveled across North Carolina, noting the Eno and Tuscarora tribal territories in this region. Little evidence remains of Native people’s daily life here, but this land is believed to have served as hunting grounds. Colonization ultimately led to the displacement and destruction of Native communities throughout the North Carolina Piedmont. , This Land is Indigenous Land In 2020, the Triangle Native American Society, in partnership with Dix Park Conservancy and the City of Raleigh, led a Native American land blessing and acknowledgment ceremony at Dix Park. One of only a few such ceremonies conducted in North Carolina, the acknowledgement recognizes and honors this Indigenous land as Coharie, Cherokee, Haliwa-Saponi, Lumbee, Meherrin, Occaneechi, Sappony, and Waccamaw Siouan. , [Captions (left to right)] , . Map of North Carolina showing the footprint of various tribal settlements from the Mississippian period (900-1600). , . Kaya Littleturtle of the Lumbee Tribe performs a Native American land blessing at Dix Park.