Point of Honor’s First Residents
The Piedmont region of Virginia has been home to Indigenous communities for 12,000 years. When Europeans first arrived in the area in the 17th century, they encountered Siouan Indians of the Monacan and Mannahoac tribes who were living in an organized federation of more than 10,000 people. Their villages were surrounded by defensive walls, and they lived in homes made of bark and reed mats. The Siouan people actively traded with the Powhatans on the eastern shore of Virginia, using copper beads, shells, and food.
Virginia’s Indigenous tribes sustained themselves on a wide variety of both wild and agricultural crops. They ate corn, beans, and squash (known colloquially as the “three sisters”) from their gardens, and wild grapes, fruit, and nuts found in the forests. Indigenous communities relied heavily on hunting, and the Piedmont’s wild deer and small game provided ample resources.
Colonial Period Contact
Prior to contact with the English, the Native communities in both North and South America faced hardships due to encroachment of the Spanish in the 16th century. These early colonists brought with them diseases like influenza and smallpox, which devastated the Indigenous populations. Large numbers of people fell victim to sicknesses for which they had no immunities, and entire villages were lost as European diseases swept through the land. By the time the English appeared in Virginia, the Monacan and Mannahoac populations were greatly reduced, making them vulnerable to the expansion of Western colonialism.
The Monacan and Mannahoac people in Virginia avoided the European settlers who began travelling west after arriving in Jamestown in 1607. Some native people fled north to what is today Pennsylvania and Canada, where they were adopted by parts of the Iroquois Confederacy. The Tuscarora people from North Carolina fled north as well, and some stayed with the Monacans who had not left Virginia and were still living in their ancestral homelands. Other Indigenous tribes, like the Tutelos and Saponi from North Carolina and the coast of Virginia, also joined the remnant Monacan populations.
Occasionally Euro-American scouts would encounter Central Virginia’s native people, but very little contact was made in the early 18th century. Maps from this time show villages located in Bedford, Amherst, and Nelson counties and also near the White Rock Hill neighborhood of Lynchburg. In some areas along the James River, white settlers learned tobacco farming techniques from the Native people, and a few communities began to cohabitate with European-Americans.
However, not all Indigenous people were willing to live peacefully with their new neighbors. Near modern-day Bedford, a group of Quakers tried to make a settlement near a Monacan ancestral burial ground and trail crossing in 1758. The conflict resulted in the settlement being abandoned for two years before the Quakers returned and permanently reclaimed the ancestral tribal lands.
Bear Mountain Settlement
In the 1830’s, Monacan families began moving to Bear Mountain in Amherst County. The land was purchased by William Johns for the American Indians related to him. Within 20 years, almost 30 large families lived in the area. In 1868, a small building was erected as a meeting place, and the residents began to hold religious services there. This location served around 350 Native Americans. At the time, churches and schools were segregated by race, but rarely was there a space for Indigenous people. Travelling clergymen held services in the Bear Mountain building until 1908, when an Episcopal chapel was built on the land. The original meeting space was then turned into a mission school for the children.
By the early 20th century, the Monacans’ traditional livelihoods had all but vanished, and many had begun working in the agricultural industry. Tribal members were working on orchards, fruit farms, and lumber yards alongside Black and white laborers.
20th Century Challenges
Virginia’s race laws meant to discriminate against Black and African American individuals also affected Indigenous communities. In 1924, the Racial Integrity Act prohibited marriage between people of different races. Those of Native descent were not allowed to declare themselves Indigenous on birth and marriage certificates, and were instead required to be recorded as “colored” or “Negro.” Monacans fought for the correct racial designations throughout the early 20th century and even challenged WWII draft boards and the Bureau of Vital Statistics. This fight continued until 1997 when state legislation was passed that allowed for correcting official historical records of their ancestors whose heritage had been misclassified.
Monacan students at the mission school on Bear Mountain were only educated to the seventh grade. In 1963, Amherst County proposed to build a new school for the children, but the proposal did not pass. Instead, the 23 Monacan students were integrated into the public school system, and the mission school closed. Today, the building is used during the annual Monacan Indian Nation Homecoming Reunion and Bazaar and as a recreational space by tribal members. The Monacans received a grant in the 1970’s to continue their tradition of pottery, and later a consortium was created to pay for job training.
State & Federal Recognition
The Monacan Indian Nation was officially recognized by the Virginia General Assembly in 1989. While largely symbolic, this act acknowledged the Tribe’s identity for the first time, as well as its historical and cultural contributions to the Commonwealth. Within five years, the Monacan Indian Nation had registered as a nonprofit organization, set up scholarship funds, purchased additional lands, and established a steering committee for the museum on Bear Mountain. Annually, the Tribe opens its lands to the public and hosts a Powwow to celebrate native cultures. Today the Monacan Indian Nation has more than 2,000 members and is still headquartered on Bear Mountain in Amherst County. The Monacans are one of the few tribes in the country to occupy a reservation in its ancestral homeland.
In 2018 the Tribe received federal recognition, which established its national sovereignty and made it eligible for funding and services from the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs. The Monacan Indian Nation is now one of nearly 600 federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native tribes and villages in the United States, and one of seven in Virginia.
We are always interested in learning more about the Monacan Indian Nation. If you have photographs, artifacts, or research related to the tribe, or if you are a Tribal Member interested in advising the Lynchburg Museum System, please contact Curator Emily Kubota at emily.kubota@lynchburgva.gov or (434) 455-3914.