THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, June 26, 1995 TAG: 9506260022
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: STAFFORD, VA. LENGTH: Medium: 51 lines
An American Indian group is creating a memorial and reburial site just a few miles from one of the largest mass graves of Indians in the eastern United States.
Stafford County will lease a hilltop tract overlooking the Potomac River to the American Indian Society of Washington, D.C. The site is believed to be the first permanent place in Virginia designated for Indian reburials, said State Archaeologist Catherine Slusser.
The reburial grounds will be a place to move remains uncovered by developers in Stafford, a rapidly growing community on the fringe of Northern Virginia.
Mitchell L. Bush, a former president of the American Indian Society, said he hopes the project encourages more Virginia localities to work with Indian tribes to set up similar reburial areas.
``This sets a precedent,'' Bush said. ``We're getting ready for the future.''
The reburial site is about two miles from the site of Potomac Village, a riverside home for the Potomac Indians, the northernmost tribe of the Powhatan chiefdom. Mass graves containing the remains of more than 700 Indians were identified during archaeological digs there in the 1930s.
Members of the tribe helped to lure Pocahontas, daughter of chief Powhatan, from Potomac Village onto an English ship. Aboard the ship, Pocahontas was taken hostage by English sea captain Samuel Argall to exchange for Englishmen held by her father. Powhatan released some Englishmen, but his daughter remained in custody. She later wed tobacco planter John Rolfe.
Modern homes have been built on or near the village. Stephen Gambaro, a member of the Stafford County Historical Commission and a driving force behind the project, said he saw the need for an Indian reburial ground several years ago when a ``For Sale'' sign sprouted on the mass grave.
How often unmarked Indian graves are destroyed, inadvertently or otherwise, is an open question. But having a permanent reburial ground would make it more convenient for landowners and developers to report discoveries, supporters of the project said.
``Most people want to do the decent thing if they're given the opportunity,'' Gambaro said. ``We want to preserve our history. At the same time, we want to make it possible for builders . . . to survive financially.'' by CNB