New Warraskoyack Chapter of the Traditional Small Craft Association (TSCA) & First Newsletter

28 Feb 24: Warraskoyack Chapter March/April/May/June 2024 Newsletter

Scuttlebutt:

1. Our Warraskoyack Chapter of the TSCA is officially formed! Now what?

2. Kent and Skipper are working on a 1965 Alcort Catfish,  1964 Alcort Sunfish and 1930s Abaco Dinghy. Also on the list is to get the Suzuki 6 hung back on Skipper's Drascombe Lugger ONKAHYE and get ONKAHYE's keel wet soon, probably from the Clontz Park ramp in Smithfield. Maybe taunt the lunch crowd at Smithfield Station?

Our Penobscot 14 ST. JACQUES took a dip at Jones Creek so we could shoot photos of a push pole with duckbill attachment for the March issue of Small Boats Nation. No spoilers until after the article is published on Friday.

3. Steve and his beautiful Welsford Pathfinder SPARTINA are messing about down south, last seen visiting Webb Chiles in Hilton Head. 

4. Mike M. has all the scoop on Deltaville and is working with the Mathews Maritime Foundation and Colonial Seaport Foundation, plus the Coast Guard Auxiliary. When not being pressed into service on other boats, he messes about in his 7' 7" Nutshell Pram. Maybe we need to set up a Nutshell Regatta :) 

5. John Y. is getting a Lincolnville Salmon Wherry built by Walt Simmons, we can't wait to see that!

6. We'd like to set up a get together at one of our many great local maritime museums. Who's gonna be first? Deltaville...Reedville...Mariners'...Jamestown...Nauticus...Chesapeake Bay...?

Calendar:

March

21-24 - Sunnyland Antique and Classic Boat Society Festival
Antique and Classic Boat Society

Lake Dora, Tavares, FL

April

25-27 The Catboat Rally

Beaufort, SC

26-28 Annapolis Spring Sailboat Show
Annapolis, MD

May

04 Wooden Boat Festival

North Carolina Maritime Museum

Beaufort, NC

18 Jamestown Day

Jamestown Settlement

Williamsburg, VA

18 Big Little Boat Festival

Chesapeake Light Craft

Centreville, MD

15-19 Florida 120
Pensacola, FL

?? TSCA John Gardner Small Craft Workshop

Mystic Seaport Museum 

Mystic, CT

3-5 Cedar Key Small Boat Festival

Cedar Key, FL

June

14-16 Chesapeake Bay Antique and Classic Boat Festival

Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum

St Michaels, MD

??-?? Harborfest

Norfolk, VA

28-30 WoodenBoat Show

Mystic Seaport

Mystic, CT

About:

The Warraskoyack Chapter retraces the water trails of the indigenous Powhatan tribes on the lower Chesapeake watershed and the upper Outer Banks.  

Membership is free to any member of TSCA.

Chapter POC: Kent Lewis, (850) 449-4841, lewis.kent@gmail.com

Members:

Audrey

Kent

Mike M.

Steve E.

John Y.

For more information on our local waters, please visit our Smithfield Trading Town blog at https://smithfieldseaport.blogspot.com/

Old News:

28 Feb 24:

We just received notification that the Traditional Small Craft Association (TSCA) National Council approved our Warraskoyack  Chapter. 

A little information on the indigenous Warraskoyack area:

"The Warraskoyack Indians, members of the Powhatan paramount chiefdom, lived near the mouth of the Pagan River and along its tributaries, near modern day Smithfield Virginia. Their town of Mokete likely stood in the vicinity of present-day Rescue, while Mathomouk town was probably situated along Burwell Bay close to Rushmere. The principal settlement of Warraskoyack was located farther inland, perhaps east of modern day Smithfield and west of Jones Creek.

The Warraskoyak were an Algonquian-speaking tribe in Tsenacommacah. The Warraskoyak werowance, Tackonekintaco, paid tribute to paramount chief Powhatan. The homeland of the Warraskoyak provided easy access to oysters and fish from the river. It had been occupied for at least 5,500 years. Sea level rise at the end of the last Ice Age drowned the mouth of the Pagan River, and the resulting wetlands were valued food sources for Native Americans long before the evolution of the Warraskoyak tribe. 

Inland, across the watershed divide separating the James and Blackwater rivers, hunting and gathering opportunities were rich in what today are labeled Pettit and Belle Meadow pocosins and Pouches, Passenger, and Rattlesnake swamps. In those swamps and woods, the Warraskoyak must have encountered Iroquoian-speaking Nottaway hunters coming up the Blackwater River. 

The Algonquian-speaking Quiyoughcohannock lived to their west, upstream on the James River beyond Hog Island. The powerful Algonquian-speaking Nansemond tribe, with 200 warriors according to John Smith, lived downstream on the Nansemond River with a "kings house" on Dumplin Island. The size of the Nansemond tribe would have deterred the Warraskoyak from conflict, if those neighbors chose to hunt near Mokete, Mathomauk, or the king's house of the Warraskoyak. From those three towns, the Warraskoyack found it easy to canoe out into the James (Powhatan Flu) River to trade with the English. They welcomed visitors from Jamestown, bypassing Powhatan with direct trade of food for metal tools and prestige goods. At John Smith's request, they hosted Samuel Collier, an English boy so he could learn the Algonquian language and facilitate trade and diplomacy. 

In early 1608, the Warraskoyack allowed a Paspahegh guide to lead two Jamestown colonists into their territory to search for survivors of the "lost colony" on Roanoke Island. Later that year, they assisted another searcher, Michael Sicklemore, to journey towards the Chowan River on another futile expedition."

The Warraskoyack Chapter will explore our local rivers and creeks, retracing the water trails of the indigenous First People. We'll also venture out to other spots on the Chesapeake watershed, the upper Outer Banks and our many inland rivers.  

Membership is free to any member of TSCA, and if we'll put out a quarterly newsletter.

For more information on our local waters, please visit our Smithfield Trading Town blog at https://smithfieldseaport.blogspot.com/