Mythologies of the Monacan Tribe

The Monacan Indian Nation is one of eleven Native American tribes recognized since the late 20th century by the U.S. Commonwealth of Virginia. In January 2018, the United States Congress passed an act to provide federal recognition as tribes to the Monacan and five other tribes in Virginia. They had earlier been so disrupted by land loss, warfare, intermarriage, and discrimination that the main society believed they no longer were "Indians". However, the Monacans reorganized and asserted their culture. The Monacan nation was first recorded by Jamestown settlers in colonial Virginia, as living west and upland of the Tidewater area. Their native language is a Siouan language.They are related to other Siouan-speaking tribes of the Appalachian foothill region, such as the Tutelo, Saponi and Occaneechi. One of their former villages, upriver of the falls of the James River was abandoned by the 18th century and the land granted to Huguenot settlers, who retained the name of Manakin town. Today, the Monacan nation is located primarily in their traditional Piedmont region, particularly in Amherst County near Lynchburg. As of 2018 the Monacan Indian Nation has approximately 2,000 members. There are satellite groups in West Virginia, Maryland, Tennessee, and Ohio.

The Monacan Indian Nation’s mission is to honor, preserve, and uplift the rich heritage, culture, and sovereignty of the Monacan people. Our primary objective is to safeguard the well-being, rights, and prosperity of our tribal community, both present and future. We are dedicated to fostering a strong sense of unity and inclusivity among our tribal members, promoting a harmonious and supportive environment that values and respects each individual. Through open communication, collaboration, and shared decision-making, we strive to ensure that every voice is heard and every perspective is considered. Preservation and revitalization of the Monacan culture are paramount to our mission. We are committed to safeguarding our traditions, languages, arts, and ancestral knowledge, ensuring they are passed down to future generations. By promoting cultural education, events, and activities, we seek to strengthen the bond between our people and the rich tapestry of our heritage. In line with our commitment to sovereignty, we advocate for the rights and self-determination of the Monacan Nation. We engage in responsible stewardship of our lands, protecting and managing our natural resources sustainably, while honoring the deep spiritual connection our people have with the land. Furthermore, we strive for social and economic progress within our community. Through strategic partnerships, economic development initiatives, and educational opportunities, we aim to empower our tribal members and create a prosperous future that fosters self-sufficiency and economic independence. The Monacan Indian Nation’s mission is grounded in principles of respect, integrity, and resilience. We embrace the challenges that lie ahead with determination, adaptability, and a strong sense of identity, guided by our ancestors’ wisdom and the collective aspirations of our tribal community. Together, we envision a vibrant and thriving future for the Monacan people, rooted in our heritage and enriched by the contributions of each individual.

The Monacan Indian Nation is a state-recognized Indian tribe whose tribal area is located near Bear Mountain in Amherst County. The original territory of the Siouan-speaking tribe and its allies comprised more than half of present-day Virginia, including almost all of the Piedmont region and parts of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Early in the twenty-first century about 1,600 Monacans belonged to the tribe, one of the oldest groups of indigenous people still existing in its ancestral homeland, and the only group in the state whose culture descends from Eastern Siouan speakers. Scholars believe that thousands of years ago, in the Ohio River Valley, the Siouan-speaking people lived as a unified group, and that eventually the tribes moved both east and west, separating into the Eastern and Western Siouan speakers. Monacan Indians spoke a language related to other Eastern Siouan tribes, such as the Tutelo. The Monacan people are also related to the Occaneechi and Saponi peoples located in present-day North Carolina, and they were affiliated with the Manahoac Indians, who occupied the northern Piedmont in what is now Virginia. When the first English settlers founded Jamestown in 1607, the Monacan lived above the falls of the James River and were traditional enemies of the Algonquian-speaking Indians of Tsenacomoco. Powhatan, the paramount chief of Tsenacomoco, had discouraged the Englishmen from visiting the Monacan, but in September 1608, Christopher Newport and 120 men set out anyway, traveling 40 to 50 miles beyond the falls. After kidnapping a Monacan political leader to act as a guide, Newport and his party visited the towns of Mowhemicho and Massanack, while mapping three others: Rassaweck, Monasukapanough, and Monahassanugh. According to English reports, Rassaweck, on the James River, was the principal Monacan town. The area in general, John Smith wrote, was a "faire, fertill, well watred countrie," but it did not boast the mineral wealth for which Newport was hoping, and the Englishmen soon retreated back to Tsenacomoco. Traditionally, Monacan people buried the remains of their dead in sacred earthen mounds constructed over time. These mounds, excavated by archaeologists and others, have been the site of secondary burials. In other words, many corpses were exhumed and reburied during periodic ceremonies. Thirteen such mounds have been found throughout the Blue Ridge and Piedmont regions, similarly constructed, some more than a thousand years old. In the mid-1750s Thomas Jefferson observed several Indians visiting one of the mounds on the Rivanna River and in or about 1784 directed an excavation of the burial mound. Located in Albemarle County, the mound's location, according to a map published by John Smith, lies in what was Monacan territory, but scholars disagree as to whether the mound's builders were Monacan. Some argue that because most burial mounds are found west of the Piedmont, the so-called Jefferson's Mound may have been the work of Indians who invaded the area from the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Shenandoah Valley. In 2000, after learning of the possibility of nearby development, the Monacan Indian Nation conducted a blessing ceremony at the site. During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, most Monacan Indians were living on a settlement near Bear Mountain in Amherst County. Sometime around 1868, a small log cabin was built and used as a community church. In 1908, the Episcopal minister Arthur P. Gray Jr. established Saint Paul's Mission and the Bear Mountain Indian Mission School. The school enrolled students through the seventh grade until the advent of public in 1964. A fire in 1930 left only the schoolhouse intact, but the church was immediately rebuilt.

The Monacan Indian Nation is located in the Piedmont region of Virginia, adjacent to the Blue Ridge Mountain, headquartered in what is now Amherst County. This area has been occupied for more than 10,000 years. Along with other Siouan speaking tribes such as the Saponi, Tutelo, and Mannahoac, the Monacan once occupied most of the western half of what is now Virginia. Monacans were traditionally a mound-building culture. They hunted deer, fished the rivers of the territory, and they had been farming corn for more than 900 years. They were also known to mine copper, and they became proficient traders with other Indian tribes, trading copper, which was highly valued, for items such as shell beads. Monacans were also highly skilled basketmakers who created a unique form of basket weaving that incorporated animals and flower designs into the weaves. The potters employed the coil method to create wares of exceptional beauty and durability. Their skills are still practiced among Monacan artisans, along with contemporary arts. The first known encounter between Monacans and Europeans occurred in 1608, when Captain John Smith and his men engaged in hostilities with the Monacans. The Europeans captured a wounded man named Amorolek. When John Smith asked Amorolek why his people had been hostile toward the English, he replied, “We heard that you were a people come from the underworld, to take our world from us.” His prophetic statement stands as an accurate description of the Monacan experience. Because the Monacan were enemies of the Powhatan and chose not to interact with colonists, early Europeans wrote little about them. Around 1750, when the city of Lynchburg was founded, Monacan people lived in two traditional communities along the James River. They established the post town of Oronoco about 1800, where they raised tobacco for market and grew other crops. Soon after, William Johns purchased 500 acres on Bear Mountain and established an Indian farming settlement. By the end of the century, more than 250- Monacan descendents lived in the area. The Episcopal Church established a mission at Bear Mountain in 1907. At the time, most Monacan families worked in nearby orchards, picking fruit and cutting pulp wood. Children attended the one-room school at the mission; high school was not available. By the end of the 1950s, nearly half of the Monacan community had left the state due to its repressive racial policies.

The Monacan Indian Nation is based in Amherst County, Virginia and currently consists of about 2,000 members. The presence of this tribe dates back over 10,000 years in the Mid-Atlantic Region of the United States and their original territory covered more than half of present-day Virginia. While the Virginian Algonquin-speaking people mentioned previously occupied the bulk of the land to the east of what is now Richmond, the Monacan Tribe’s original territory would have been the majority of the Piedmont of Virginia and parts of the Blue Ridge, even stretching down into modern-day northern North Carolina. Most scholars believe that the Monacans were originally incorporated into the unified group of Siouan-speaking people that inhabited all of the Ohio River Valley. Eventually, the tribes that comprised this unified group separated into the Eastern and Western Siouan speakers. The Monacan, as well as other Siouan tribes such as the Occaneechi and Saponi people of North Carolina and the Mannahoac Indians of the northern Piedmont, moved eastward and settled into what we now consider their ancestral lands. In fact, the Monacan are one of the oldest groups of indigenous peoples that still exist in their ancestral homeland and the only group of Eastern Siouan people left in Virginia. The Monacan were an agricultural people who grew what is commonly referred to as the “Three Sisters” crops of corn, beans, and squash, as well as a wide variety of other foods such as fruit trees, sunflowers, and even some species of nuts. They hunted big game such as deer and elk, as well as small game that is native to the Mid-Atlantic, like squirrel and rabbit. They lived in villages surrounded by palisaded walls and their homes were dome-shaped structures made out of bark and reed mats. The Monacan people are differentiated from neighboring tribes by their burial practices. They would build sacred earthen mounds to inter their dead, thirteen of which have been found throughout the Piedmont and Blue Ridge, some dating over a thousand years old. Many of these mounds have been excavated by archaeologists and have aided historians in building a more complete history of the Monacan people. Thomas Jefferson excavated one of the mounds near his property at Monticello after he documented a group of Native Americans visiting the mound in the mid-1750s and in the 1780s, he returned to the site to conduct a thorough excavation.