Exhibition Opening July 12, 6:00-8:00 p.m.

Corn was not grown in Virginia until about 900 CE, so it is a relatively new addition to the "local" diet! Corn quickly became an agricultural staple for indigenous people living in the Loudoun area. 

By about 3,000 BCE the climate in our area roughly resembled what it is today. Indigenous peoples living here fished in the Potomac River and local creeks and cultivated edible plants. Rather than "hunting and gathering" these people were more like "gardeners and cultivators", taking a special interest in caring for wild plants and breeding better versions. These native plants are part of the Eastern Agricultural Complex, and include relatives of popular modern domesticated plants, like goosefoot (quinoa) and erect knotweed (buckwheat). They also grew and ate things like berries, nuts, peas, and summer squash.

Indigenous peoples have lived along the Potomac River for thousands of years. These cultures passed their history and culture to the next generation through songs and stories rather than the written word, so we have no record of what many of these groups called themselves. 

When European explorers and colonists arrived in the northern piedmont, the area was  mainly occupied by Manahoac groups, closely related to the Monacan tribe of central Virginia.  Decimated by disease, wary of Europeans, and weary of war with other Indian nations, most Manahoac peoples moved west or assimilated into other tribes by the mid 18th century. 

Many tribe names that are associated with Loudoun- like Piscataway, Seneca, and Tuscarora- are actually tribes that lived in Loudoun for relatively short times. For example, the Tuscarora are from North Carolina but fled northward after their community was torn apart by war. They stayed in Loudoun for a generation or two before moving further north to live with allies.