“Before the arrival of the English there, the Indians had fish in such vast plenty that the boys and girls would take a pointed stick and strike at the lesser sort as they swam upon the flats.”
People have lived in Virginia for millennia before 1607. Stone points found at a recent excavation on Jamestown Island are dated at over 10,000 years. When the English arrived, much of Tidewater Virginia was ruled by one man. Chief Powhatan controlled over 30 tribes and 160 villages. Settlers were impressed by the way his people used the waterways for transportation and as a food source.
"The men bostow their time in fishing, hunting, wars, and such man-like exercies." -William Strachey, 1609 - 1610
"They make them [canoes] with one tree by burning and scraping away the coals with stones and shells till they have made them in the form of a trough." -William Strachey
"...Ingeniou enough in their own works as may testify their weirs in which they take their fish, which are certain enclosures made of reeds and framed in the fashion of a labyrinth... ." -William Strachey |
Last updated: March 31, 2012