Pre-1607 Weyanoke Tribe
Educational sign:
The river was the center of Weyanoke life, even physically, as they settled on both sides of the James River. The Weyanokes relied on the river for food cultivation, transportation, and communication. They used fishing rods with bone fishhooks, fishnets made from deer sinew or natural fibers, or traps called weirs. Fire fishing was another method used by Powhatan groups at the time, where fishermen would build a small fire in the bow of a canoe at night, spearing the fish that were attracted by the light. This societal centralization of waterways was a staple for Native American societies, and represents a perspective very different to that of the English colonists, who instead viewed rivers as boundaries.
The Weyanoke (or Weyanock) tribe was a Native American tribe in the Powhatan Chiefdom. Their name may mean “at the bend,” from the Algonquian word wayanitoke “waves around the bend.” Their main settlement was at Weyanoke Point, located at a bend in the James River near the Rice Rivers Center.
Timeline dates:
Middle Archaic- 6000 BCE-4000 BCE
- Late Archaic- 2500 BCE-1100 BCE
- Early Woodland- 1000 BCE -300 BCE
- Middle Woodland- 300 BCE-1000 CE
- Late Woodland/Contact- 1000 CE-1600 CE
Amelia Johnson's Gold Award report:
The VCU Rice Rivers Center property is an archaeological site on which many historical artifacts have been found. It is particularly abundant with Native American ceramics, which were the hallmark innovation of the Woodland Period, as well as weapon points which can be used to confirm occupation in earlier periods when ceramics were not yet created. Based on the artifacts, Native Americans were present on the Rice Center land as early as the Middle Archaic period (4000 BC-6000 BC) through the Late Woodland and contact periods (900-1650 AD). A variety of distinctive weapon points and ceramic styles have been found, including Piscataway weapon points, Savannah River Points, a Chipstone ax head, and Mockley, Prince George, Potomac Creek, and Roanoke Simple Stamped ceramics.1
The Weyanoke (or Weyanock) tribe was a Native American tribe that was a part of the Powhatan Chiefdom and until 1644 resided in what is now Charles City County. Their primary capital was at Weyanoke Point, land in the vicinity of the VCU Rice Rivers Center. While no large Weyanoke settlement was located on what is now Rice Center land, there would have been small mobile encampments of hunters and fishers that worked near the river, which likely contributed to the artifacts found on the property. There was also a large ‘dispersed village’ Native American settlement located across the river from the Rice land at Jordan’s Point during the Late Woodland Period.2 A William and Mary archaeological survey report also indicates that there was likely a small village site in the area of the Rice Center from the Archaic through the Woodland eras.3 The Weyanoke tribe was forced to flee their land in 1644 due to the encroachment of the English and the Third Anglo-Powhatan War, and they moved to North Carolina. They have not been active as a tribe since the early 1700s. However, their time on the James River is an essential piece of the history of the Rice Rivers Center land and helps explain the integral role of the river to groups settled on the land over time.
Very little written record of the Algonquin language remains. According to John C. Huden, author of Indian Place Names of New England, the name ‘Weyanoke’ may mean “at the bend”, from wayanitoke “waves around the bend” and wayunkeke “at the bend”, both terms from Algonquian languages. Weyanoke Point indeed is located at a substantial bend in the James River. The river’s impact on the Weyanoke people is not just contained in their name, however.
As for all Powhatan tribes in Virginia, waterways were essential to Weyanoke society. The James River was the center of life for the tribe, and was located at the center of their territory as the tribe inhabited land on both sides of the James. This centralization of waterways was a staple for Native American societies, and represents a perspective very different to that of the English colonists, who viewed rivers as boundaries rather than something to build and live around.
Rivers were named for the dominant Native group in the area, so what we call the James River was known as the Powhatan River by Virginian tribes. These groups relied on the James and other rivers for food cultivation, transportation, and communication. The Weyanokes were not nomads, but focused more on settled farming, which is why the James River was so important to their society. Algonquian groups settled by rivers for agricultural purposes, as riverside land was frequently arable and lush. The farmlands were controlled by the women, who also built houses and did most of the work in town while the men hunted.
Waterways were also used for fishing, a significant aspect of Powhatan life as evidenced by the chiefdom’s most labor-intensive product: the dugout canoe. Both fish and shellfish were sought by the Native Americans. In the freshwater waters around the Rice Center, various types of anadromous fish such as sturgeon, shad, and herring were likely fished. The Weyanokes used fishing rods with bone fishhooks, fishnets made from deer sinew or natural fibers, or weirs, which are traps constructed from sticks and nets that caught fish traveling downstream. Fire fishing was another method used by Powhatan groups at the time, where fishermen would build a small fire in the bow of a canoe at night, spearing the fish that were attracted by the light.
The river influenced all facets of Weyanoke life, and reveals a significant connection between the past inhabitants of the Rice Center property and the land itself. While the focus of the historical ownership of Rice may be on the land, it is impossible to separate its terrestrial history from its aquatic, and the lasting impact of Kimages Creek and the James River on its historic inhabitants cannot be overlooked.
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The content for this section is compiled from a variety of research from the following sources:
Personal communication with Dr. Helen C. Rountree
Helen C. Rountree, The Powhatan Indians of Virginia (University of Oklahoma Press, 1989).
Fairfax County Public Schools, “The Weyanoke People of Virginia - A World of Water and Land,” YouTube, December 17, 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ggc7_qpznwI.
Fairfax County Public Schools, “The Weyanoke People of Virginia - Farmers and Hunters,” YouTube, December 17, 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9YSbcasGMs&list=PLYk-BpSrgqhQxS1rQtsOEmerzl7bHgO0r.
1 Artifacts housed at the Virginia Department of Historical Resources, identified and sourced courtesy of Chris Egghart
2 Chris Egghart, “Archaeology of the Environment: Human Land Use and its Impacts along the Lower James River,” Archaeological Society of Virginia Quarterly Bulletin 65, no. 4 (December 2010): 136.
3 Elizabeth J. Monroe, “Archaeological Survey of the Proposed Inger and Walter Rice Center for Environmental Life Sciences Education Building and Research Lab Facilities (Development Phases I-III), Charles City County, Virginia,” William and Mary Center for Archaeological Research, 2007: 3.