Toppahanock Indian Village

N-25

In this region near the Rappahannock River once stood the Rappahannock Indian village of Toppahanock. When John Smith explored this region in 1607 and 1608, he found fourteen Rappahannock villages along both banks of the river. The river was the center of the Rappahannocks' ancestral lands and served as a food source and travel network. The Rappahannock River was formerly known as the Opiscatumek. Sometime before 1607, the Rappahannock Indians asserted themselves as the dominant group on the river.

Department of Historic Resources, 2000 Department of Historic Resources, 2000

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References/Bibliographic Citation:

Philip L. Barbour, ed., The Complete Works of John Smith (1580-1631) in Three Volumes, (Chapel Hill and London: University of North Carolina Press, 1986), I 187-188; Ben C. McCary, John Smith’s Map Of Virginia in E. G. Swem, ed., Jamestown 350th Anniversary Historical Booklets, 3 (Williamsburg: Virginia 350 Anniversary Celebration Corporation, 1957); Helen C. Rountree, The Powhatan Indians of Virginia: Their Traditional Culture (Norman, Ok. and London: University of Oklahoma Press, 1989), 13-15, 31; James B. Slaughter, Settlers, Southerners, Americans: The History of Essex County, Virginia 1608-1984 (Salem, Wv.: Don Mills, Inc., 1985),1-6.