Our Culture

The word Chickahominy means “coarse-pounded corn people.”  The tribe’s ancestral villages were located along the Chickahominy River in Charles City County, VA. The Treaty of 1646 displaced the Chickahominy people from this area and set aside land for them in the Pamunkey Neck area of Virginia. As the settlers prospered, they crowded the Chickahominy Indian Tribe out of this area as well.

Chickahominy families began a gradual migration to the area called the Chickahominy Ridge, where they now reside. This area, between Richmond and Williamsburg, is only a few miles from one of their 1607 village sites. In 1901, the Chickahominy Indian Tribe established Samaria Indian Baptist Church, which serves as an important focal point for the community to this day.

Our People

The Chickahominy are an Algonquin people: one of the largest cultural and linguistic groups in North America. Algonquin lands once stretched all the way from the southeastern coastal plain to near the Arctic Circle. Like other Algonquins in this area, the Chickahominy are often called Powhatan Indians. However, the villages were always independent–never under the control of Chief Powhatan, known to his people as Wahunsunacock. Throughout the post-contact era the Chickahominy people have maintained their independence, while remaining close to other Native people in this area.  

About Our Tribal Government

The Chickahominy Indian Tribe is a federally recognized American Indian tribe whose tribal operations are in Charles City County, Virginia. State recognition was achieved in 1983 and federal recognition was established in 2018.  

Today, a Tribal Council of twelve men and women, including a chief and two assistant chiefs, are elected by vote of our tribe.  The Tribal leadership and administration are working tirelessly to provide services to tribal citizens and to be advocates for all Virginia Indian tribes.