Nansemond Tribe
Contact Information
P.O. Box 6558
Portsmouth, Va. 23703
WEB: http://www.nansemond.org/
Chief: Barry W. Bass
History & Information
At the time of their first English contact in Virginia, the Nansemond Tribe lived in several towns along the Nansemond River centered near Chuckatuck, the current location of Suffolk. Their head chief lived near Dumpling Island, where the tribe's temples and sacred items were located. At that time, the tribe had a population of 1200 persons with 300 bowmen.
The arriving English raided the Nansemond town in 1608, burning their houses and destroying their canoes in order to force them to give up their corn, thus beginning the open hostilities between the two communities. As increasing numbers of Europeans poured into the Nansemond River area, the tribal members had to relocate their tribal lands and their reservation on several occasions, losing their last known reservation lands in 1792.
Currently most Nansemond tribal members still live in the Suffolk/Chesapeake area. The tribe holds its monthly meetings at the Indiana United Methodist Church, which was founded in 1850 as a mission for the Nansemond, and which is adjacent to the site of earlier tribal schools. The tribe was state recognized in 1985. The members have operated a tribal museum and gift shop in Chuckatuck, and they have current plans for a tribal center and museum and living history area on ancestral lands along the Nansemond River. They co-host a powwow each June with the city of Chesapeake, and they celebrate their tribal Annual Powwow each August.