VIENNA - The Nanticoke Historic Preservation Alliance is sponsoring the 8th Annual Chicone Village Day at Handsell on Saturday, April 30, at the historic site at 4837 Indiantown Road in Vienna.
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VIENNA - The Nanticoke Historic Preservation Alliance is sponsoring the 8th Annual Chicone Village Day at Handsell on Saturday, April 30, at the historic site at 4837 Indiantown Road in Vienna.
All are welcome to come to Handsell on this special day designed to honor the history and culture of the Eastern Woodland native people who inhabited a wide area in the eastern part of the United States including the wooded area of the Delmarva Peninsula.
Prior to the arrival of Europeans, there were numerous tribes living on the Delmarva peninsula. John Smith’s 1608 voyage around the rim of the Chesapeake Bay described one of the largest villages, that of “the Emperor” which was in this area of Chicone Creek and Vienna.
The site was later a reservation set aside by the Maryland colony and a trading post called Handsell set up by Englishman Thomas Taylor, a designated interpreter for the colony. Today, the NHPA has built a replica longhouse, work shelter and garden to celebrate the Native culture that once existed on this Chicone Village site.
While many tribes had moved freely up and down the peninsula for centuries, by the mid-1600s, Europeans seeking land forced the tribes to abandon their traditional homes and lifestyles. Nanticoke Indians who originally lived along the Nanticoke River found themselves slowly being pushed north away from their ancestral lands, some eventually joining the Iroquois Confederacy. However, some remained and integrated into both white and African American communities on Delmarva where their ancestors can still be found today.
“The story of Eastern Woodland Indian culture reaches thousands of years into the distant past of what is now the state of Maryland,” a statement from event organizers said. “Their heritage is intimately woven into the fabric of our nation, yet it is often misinterpreted and remains largely obscure.”
Disease, conflict and assimilation wiped out much of this heritage within one or two generations. As a result, an awareness of native culture is limited to place names of many local towns and rivers whose meanings have long since been forgotten.
NHPA’s goal is to remember and pay tribute to this peaceful, gentle society that once resided on the shores of the Nanticoke River.
The Chicone Village Project, begun in 2013 with the ground-breaking of an authentic native dwelling lodge or longhouse, has since expanded to include a native garden and work shelter and recently a nature walk. The Chicone longhouse is an authentically built replica of a single-family dwelling unit, the first to be built on the Eastern Shore in 200 years.
Made of all-natural material, it requires regular maintenance recently done by the Chicone Village volunteers, who have logged in over 3,200 hours creating this single-family complex. The Village has been visited by many tourists and educational groups including students from Salisbury University, Washington College, USNA Midshipmen, local fifth-grade students and international Chinese students.
The event is growing, with participation from Native groups increasing yearly. Returning for his only presentation in Dorchester County in 2022 is Daniel Firehawk Abbott, retired coordinator of Native Interpretation at Colonial Williamsburg and former trustee with the NHPA. The Pocomoke Indian Nation, a long-time supporter of the Chicone Village, will feature Chief Norris Howard and his family in the work shelter.
Other tribal groups invited to attend include Nause Waiwash Band of Indians, Philip Goldsborough and the Lenape of Delaware and New Jersey. A special exhibit in the Handsell house, curated by Terry Crannell, will feature Native pottery sherds and other unusual artifacts. Unlike other pow-wows held by Eastern Shore tribal groups, NHPA has devoted its education programs to early Native life as it was before the arrival of Europeans. Living history demonstrations will include cooking, weaving, chipping of implements and gardening with historic plants.
There will be artifact displays by archaeologist Ed Otter, PhD, who has done excavations at Handsell. Jeff Kirwin, of the Nause Waiwash Band of Indians, will lead a Native drum demonstration at noon and again at 2 p.m.
At 11 a.m., LaSara Kinser, art teacher at Cambridge Middle School, will lead a “walk and talk” on foraging for herbs and other useful plants at the Handsell site. Handsell House will be open for docent tours, including the basement kitchen where visitors can watch native-inspired food prepared from the “Handsell Native Cookbook” and where the African American story is represented.
Admission is $5 to help defray costs and for maintenance of the Village structures. The event is open to the public. Information on the day’s schedule can be found at restorehandsell.org.