Powhatan's Chimney
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Powhatan's Chimney is located at present day Wicomico, in
Gloucester County, Virginia Gloucester County ( ) is a County (United States), county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 38,711. Its county seat is Gloucester Courthouse, Virginia, Gloucester Courthouse. T ...
, United States. Powhatan's Chimney was long considered clue to the site of ''
Werowocomoco Werowocomoco was a village that served as the headquarters of Chief Powhatan, a Virginia Algonquian political and spiritual leader. The name ''Werowocomoco'' comes from the Powhatan ''werowans'' ('' weroance''), meaning "leader" in English; a ...
'', a capital village of
Chief Powhatan Powhatan (), whose proper name was Wahunsenacawh (alternately spelled Wahunsenacah, Wahunsunacock, or Wahunsonacock), was the leader of the Powhatan, an alliance of Algonquian-speaking Native Americans living in Tsenacommacah, in the Tidewat ...
in what is now
Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...
. According to English
colonist A settler or a colonist is a person who establishes or joins a permanent presence that is separate to existing communities. The entity that a settler establishes is a settlement. A settler is called a pioneer if they are among the first settli ...
Captain John Smith John Smith ( – 21 June 1631) was an English soldier, explorer, colonial governor, admiral of New England, and author. He was knighted for his services to Sigismund Báthory, Prince of Transylvania, and his friend Mózes Székely. Followin ...
, ''Werowocomoco'' was located on the north side of the York River about from where the river divided at
West Point, Virginia West Point (formerly Delaware) is an incorporated town in King William County, Virginia, United States. The population was 3,414 at the 2020 census. Geography West Point is located at (37.543733, −76.805366). The York River is formed at Wes ...
, at the time the
Jamestown Settlement Jamestown Settlement is a living history museum operated by the Commonwealth of Virginia, created in 1957 as Jamestown Festival Park for the 350th anniversary celebration. Today it includes a recreation of the original James Fort (c. 1607 to 16 ...
was established in 1607. Soon after in 1609, Chief Powhatan relocated his capital to a more inland location for better security. The exact location of ''Werowocomoco'' was lost through changes in settlement patterns. The
Powhatan Confederacy Powhatan people () are Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands who belong to member tribes of the Powhatan Confederacy, or Tsenacommacah. They are Algonquian peoples whose historic territories were in eastern Virginia. Their Powha ...
and its people were largely displaced by English settlers by the middle of the 17th century. Legend tells that Powhatan's Chimney was from a house that Smith built at ''Werowocomoco'' for the chief. The chimney's collapse in 1888 led to the growth of a preservation movement, and the founding of
Preservation Virginia Founded in 1889, the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities was the United States' first statewide historic preservation group. In 2003 the organization adopted the new name APVA Preservation Virginia to reflect a broader focus ...
(formerly known as the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities). It was organized to protect and preserve other historic resources. This organization reconstructed the chimney in the 1930s in the belief that it represented the historic site of Powhatan's residence at his capital. In 1977, an
archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...
found ground-surface artifacts at a site further west on the York River on Purtan Bay that indicated a late
Woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with woody plants (trees and shrubs), or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the '' plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunli ...
/early European contact-era settlement. A 2002 archaeological survey revealed extensive artifacts on what may have been a settlement, with habitation from the 13th to the 17th century. Archaeologists and anthropologists believe this is the site of ''Werowocomoco''."Virginia Site Is Considered Possible Home Of Pocahontas"
''New York Times'', 7 May 2003, accessed 25 February 2017
Since 2003, a team of researchers has excavated and found evidence of a substantial settlement, with earthworks built around the early 15th century, more than 200 years before the English arrived. Representatives of local Virginia Indian tribes, descendants of the Powhatan Confederacy, are part of the team. In 2006 the ''Werowocomoco'' Archeological Site was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
(NRHP). Scholars hope to find more evidence about the political nature of the chiefdom through additional excavations. Both the newly identified site on Purtan Bay and Powhatan's Chimney are located within an area which the Native Americans may have considered as ''Werowocomoco,'' as their meaning was a general area of lands and not a specific place.Board of Supervisors Meeting, Gloucester County, Virginia, Nov. 8, 2006
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References

{{Coord, 37, 17, 30, N, 76, 31, 52.7, W, type:landmark_region:US-VA, display=title Buildings and structures in Gloucester County, Virginia Powhatan Confederacy Former Native American populated places in the United States