Powhatan's Chimney

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Coordinates: 37°17′30″N 76°31′52.7″W / 37.29167°N 76.531306°W / 37.29167; -76.531306
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Powhatan's Chimney is located at present day Wicomico, in Gloucester County, Virginia, United States.

Powhatan's Chimney was long considered clue to the site of

colonist Captain John Smith, Werowocomoco was located on the north side of the York River about 25 miles (40 km) from where the river divided at West Point, Virginia, at the time the Jamestown Settlement
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
and its people were largely displaced by English settlers by the middle of the 17th century.

Powhatan's Chimney Monument

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 (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.[1]

In 1977, an

Virginia Indian tribes, descendants of the Powhatan Confederacy, are part of the team.[2][3] In 2006 the Werowocomoco Archeological Site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
(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.[4]

References

  1. ^ "Powhatan Chimney" Archived 2007-08-16 at the Wayback Machine, Gloucester History
  2. ^ a b "Virginia Site Is Considered Possible Home Of Pocahontas", New York Times, 7 May 2003, accessed 25 February 2017
  3. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-02-24. Retrieved 2012-07-19.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. ^ Board of Supervisors Meeting, Gloucester County, Virginia, Nov. 8, 2006

37°17′30″N 76°31′52.7″W / 37.29167°N 76.531306°W / 37.29167; -76.531306

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