Summarized from: Rappahannock Tribe gives Kaine a close-up view of conservation partnership | WVTF Rappahannock Chief Anne Richardson is sitting quietly amid a group, excited by acres of pristine marshes and curious bald eagles as their boat plies the Rappahannock River 100 feet below Fones Cliffs, the place of her ancestral towns. She’s been...Read More
RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam announced two budget proposals aimed towards protecting Virginia’s natural resources and sites of cultural significance for people of color, including Black and Indigenous communities. Northam is proposing $10 million to create the Black, Indigenous, and People of Color Conservation Fund. The funding would be put towards...Read More
It seems like a small thing to grant. After a 414-year land grab, the Commonwealth of Virginia is giving federally recognized tribes some say-so in what happens on land that was taken from them. Last month, Gov. Ralph Northam signed an order that will at last give Native Americans some control of that land. The...Read More
Gov. Ralph Northam (D) on Thursday signedan order requiring state agencies to consult with Virginia Indian tribes before making decisions that affect land, waterways and other natural sites important to Indigenous peoples. That means tribal leadership will have a say in development that could disturb, for example, ancient burial grounds before showdowns between bulldozers and...Read More
Soon after Captain John Smith arrived at Jamestown in 1607, or so the story goes, he was captured by Opechancanough, the brother of the powerful Native chief Powhatan. English explorers wrote that Powhatan controlled a domain spanning much of what is now Virginia, from the state’s Piedmont region to the coast.Read More
The Rappahannock Tribe of Virginia has received a grant award through the Tribal Heritage grant program, funded by the Historic Preservation Fund and administered by the National Park Service, Department of the Interior. The grant will support the rehabilitation and repurposing of the Chief Otho S. and Susie P. Nelson House to provide space for...Read More
“People will be able to come to this special place, and spend time doing things recreational, cultural and spiritual. I consider it a national treasure,” Chief Anne Richardson said, noting that the tribe would like to see an “indigenous culture conservation learning center” eventually developed on the property.Read More
From the road, the abandoned chief’s house is a shadow, almost invisible under a cloak of vines and trees on the edge of a corn field. If you managed to find it, you wouldn’t know what it meant — the ragged wood siding, the gaping windows, the shattered plaster.Read More
The George Washington Birthplace National Monument is treasured as a threshold to America’s history and the site of America Indian Heritage Day. Representatives of the Rappahannock Tribe gave a presentation of their history and demonstrations of drumming and dance.Read More
