In December 1607, John Smith explored the upper Chickahominy River. He left his boat and seven of his crew at Apocant, the highest town on the river in the upper part of what is today the lake. Two crew members departed with Smith and two Chickahominy guides in a borrowed canoe. About twenty miles above Apocant, Smith was captured by many bowmen from several tribes whom he took to be a hunting party. He remained in the custody of paramount chief Powhatan for a month before returning to Jamestown. After losing their original land on the Chickahominy River to the English, many Chickahominy Indians eventually settled in this area, where the Tribal Center today stands as the cultural and geographic center of the modern Chickahominy Tribe.
