Beyond Jamestown - Virginia Foundation for the Humanities

Monacan
The Monacan Indian Nation is composed of about 1,700 tribal members,
located in Amherst County and recognized as a tribe by the Commonwealth
of Virginia on February 14, 1989. Native occupation in this region dates back
more than 12,000 years, and the original territory of the tribe comprised
more than half of the state of Virginia, including almost all of the piedmont
region and parts of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The Monacan Nation is one of
the oldest groups of indigenous peoples still existing in their ancestral
homeland, and the only group of Eastern Siouan people in the state.
Traditionally, Monacan people buried the remains of their dead in sacred
earthen mounds constructed over time. Thirteen such mounds have been
found throughout the Blue Ridge and piedmont regions, similarly
constructed, some more than a thousand years old. Thomas Jefferson
observed several Indians visiting one of the mounds on his property in the
1700s. He later excavated the mound and became known as “the father of
American archaeology” because he documented the findings.
St. Paul's Episcopal Mission at Bear Mountain is the site of the tribe's
ancestral museum and cultural center. The Episcopal Diocese returned the
land on which the tribal center sits to the Monacan Nation in 1995, ending
nearly a century of church control over this small tract held sacred by
Monacan people. Since that time, the tribe has purchased more than 100
acres on Bear Mountain and has obtained other parcels of land in the same
area. Tribal members have begun a cultural education program, an elders'
program, and a tribal scholarship fund. They have obtained numerous grants
to fund their projects and have restored their log cabin schoolhouse, circa
1870, which is now a registered National Historic Landmark.
10
On preserving tribal traditions…
Chief Kenneth Branham
says he asked his
grandmother why the
Indian culture
wasn't passed on. She
explained that in earlier
days, it was safer to
keep it a secret.
"She told me with tears
in her eyes if the wrong
person heard her talking
or teaching us those ways,
she might not have a place
to live the next day."
After getting his
grandmother’s blessing,
he helped change that.
"I'm very proud of what
you're doing," she said,
through tears.
"Once she told me that,
I knew we were doing the right
thing. There was no turning
back. You know, I couldn't stop
after that if I wanted to."
- Chief Kenneth Branham