The Cheroenhaka (Nottoway) Indian Tribe, made first ethno-historic contact with the English in 1607/1608 in what is now Nottoway County. We were referred to as Mangoak, or Mengwe, by the Algonquian Tribes and later in 1650, per the diary entries of Edward Bland, referred to again by the Algonquian Tribes as “Nadawa,” which soon reverted to Nottoway. In our native Iroquoian Tongue we call ourselves CHEROENHAKA – People at the Fork of the Stream.
Message from the Chief
As our tribe’s spokesperson “Dar-sun-ke” (the Tongue), and Chief, it is with great zeal on behalf of the Cheroenhaka (Nottoway) Indian Tribal Council and Members, that we welcome you in the name of the Creator (Quaker-Hun-te) to our Tribal Web Site.
Each year we host three tribal events on our 263 acres of tribal land at Cattashowrock Town. A Green Corn Dance Powwow the first Saturday in July, a Native American Revival, Crusade for Christ / Yahshua, the Great Awakening of the Holy Spirit, on the third Saturday in September and an Intertribal Corn Harvest Powwow and School Day on the first weekend in November. The School Day is the Friday before the November Powwow with a bonfire that evening.
“Quaker Hun-te EE Sun-ke Was-ke-hee, Th-ra-hun-ta, Was-we-kr “
(Creator My Hearts Sees, Hears and Speaks).
Visit Cattashowrock Town, a 17th Century replica Native American Palisade Village, as identified by William Byrd II of Westover upon his visit to what is now Southampton County, Virginia on April 7th & 8th, 1728 and walk the interpretative trails guided by signage in our Iroquoian language and in English identifying Native Flora and Fauna indigenous to the area.
