Along York River's Purtan Pay in Gloucester County lies Werowocomoco, perhaps the most significant American Indian landscape in the eastern United States. Captain John Smith visited Werowocomoco several times between 1607 and 1609 and was the first Englishman known to have met the powerful Indian leader Powhatan there, below where the York divides into the Mattaponi and Pamunkey rivers. The scant written record of those meetings, including Smith's legendary encounter with Powhatan's daughter Pocahontas, came from Smith himself. Archaeology reveals a much larger story, with evidence of habitation 6,000-8,000 years ago and of an important town there in the 1200s, showing that Werowocomoco was already a place of leadership some 400 years before Powhatan. Scientific analysis of copper recovered from both Werowocomoco and the Jamestown colony verifies a link between the two sites and is consistent with Smith's writings about trade, and Smith's map and writings helped archaeologists find the site of Powhatan's headquarters.

Photo: Devry Becker Jones

Photo: Devry Becker Jones

Photo: Devry Becker Jones

Gloucester Courthouse, Virginia · USA