NATURAL RESOURCES USED BY AMERICAN INDIAN TRIBES OF THE CHESAPEAKE BAY REGION

In 1608, the Indian villages lining the shores of the Chesapeake Bay were found in areas that provided easy access to food sources. Villages were often located near oyster bars or at the heads of rivers and streams where migrating fish could be caught as they swam up the Bay to spawn. Arrow arum (tuckahoe) and wild rice were harvested from nearby marshes, and corn, beans and squash were grown in the area’s rich soils. The dense forests surrounding the Bay were home to deer, bear and other animals that were hunted for their meat and furs, while the trees themselves produced chestnuts, walnuts and acorns. In a way, the environment acted as a huge supermarket, providing local tribes with everything they needed for survival.

Take a look at some of the natural resources shown on this page. How many items do you recognize? How do you think each item was used?

whitetail deer

box turtle

beaver

Eastern oyster

American shad

wild rice

white oak

arrow arum (tuckahoe)

Images of beaver, Canada geese, Eastern oyster, American shad, wild rice, and arrow arum courtesy Alice Jane Lippson, selected from Life in the Chesapeake Bay, Second Edition

Canada geese

cattails

Transparency #1

NATURAL RESOURCE CARDS

BOX TURTLE

Box turtles were easy to catch and provided the Indians with meat. Turtle shells were used as rattles and food bowls.

CANADA GEESE

In fall and winter, Canada geese were hunted and eaten. Feathers were used for decoration.

BEAVER

Beavers were hunted for their meat and fur. The Indians considered beaver tails to be a delicacy.

WHITETAIL DEER

Deer meat was a valuable source of protein. Hides were turned into clothing. The bones and antlers were sharpened to make knives, needles and fish hooks.

Catfish were caught and eaten, providing a valuable source of protein to the Indians’ diet. Catfish bones were used to make sharp tools.

BROWN BULLHEAD CATFISH

Images of beaver, Canada geese, and brown bullhead catfish courtesy Alice Jane Lippson, selected from Life in the Chesapeake Bay, Second Edition

Handout #4

NATURAL RESOURCE CARDS

Indian villages were often located near oyster bars. At low tide, oysters were gathered and eaten raw or cooked/smoked over an open fire.

EASTERN OYSTER

In the spring, millions of shad swam up the Bay’s rivers and streams to spawn. Indians netted these fish by the thousands, providing tribes with a valuable source of food.

AMERICAN SHAD

In the spring, millions of herring swam up the Chesapeake Bay’s rivers and streams to spawn. Indians netted and trapped these fish by the thousands, providing tribes with a valuable source of food.

RIVER HERRING STRIPED BASS

Huge striped bass (rockfish) came to the Chesapeake each spring to spawn. They were netted and speared, providing local Indian tribes with a valuable source of food.

All images above courtesy Alice Jane Lippson, selected from Life in the Chesapeake Bay, Second Edition

Handout #4

In the spring, sturgeon arrived in the Bay to spawn. These huge fish could be up to 14 feet long! They were caught by local Indian tribes, who ate their meat and eggs (roe).

ATLANTIC STURGEON

NATURAL RESOURCE CARDS

MUSSELS

Mussels were easily gathered at low tide and eaten. The sharp edges of the shells were used to cut hair.

BALD CYPRESS

Bald cypress trees grow in swampy areas. In John Smith’s time, these trees grew over 100 feet high. The local Indians used these massive trees to make their dugout canoes.

CATTAILS

Cattail are found in marshy areas. Indian women used the reeds to make mats.

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Hard clams were easily gathered at low tide and eaten. The shells were used as scraping tools on animal hides and dugout canoes.

HARD CLAMS (QUAHOG)

Images of hickory shad and bald cypress courtesy Alice Jane Lippson, selected from Life in the Chesapeake Bay, Second Edition

Handout #4

NATURAL RESOURCE CARDS

ARROW ARUM (TUCKAHOE)

Arrow arum grows in marshy areas. Indians dug up this plant and ate the root, which is similar to a potato.

MALLARD DUCKS

Migrating ducks were hunted in the fall. The meat was eaten and the feathers were used for decoration.

Wild rice

OAK TREES

Oak trees provided the Indians with acorns, which were gathered and eaten in the fall. The wood was used for bows, and the bark was used to cover their homes.

WILD RICE

Wild rice was harvested from the marshes and added starch to the diet. SO

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Images of arrow arum, wild celery, mallard ducks and oak tree courtesy Alice Jane Lippson, selected from Life in the Chesapeake Bay, Second Edition

Handout #4

NATURAL RESOURCE CARDS Handout #4

Black bears were common in the dense forests surrounding the 17th century Chesapeake Bay. They were hunted for their meat and fur.

BLACK BEAR

RIVER OTTER

Indians hunted the river otter for their meat. Otter pelts were a valuable trade item.

ATLANTIC BLUE CRAB

Blue crabs were netted in the grass beds of the Bay’s shallow waters, providing a valuable source of protein.

Terrapins were once present in great numbers on the Chesapeake Bay and provided the Indians with meat.

DIAMONDBACK TERRAPIN

BLUEFISH

These aggressive predators schooled up in the Bay in great numbers each summer and fall. They were netted, speared and trapped by local tribes, providing them with a valuable source of protein.

Images of Atlantic blue crab and diamondback terrapin courtesy Alice Jane Lippson, selected from Life in the Chesapeake Bay, Second Edition

NATURAL RESOURCE CARDS

BLACK WALNUT

TREES

Walnuts were gathered in the fall, providing local tribes with a rich source of protein.

WILD TURKEY

Wild turkeys were hunted and eaten, providing local Indian tribes with an important source of meat. Feathers were used for decoration.

RACCOON

Raccoon (an Indian word) were hunted and eaten, and their furs were a valuable trade item.

OPOSSUM

The opossum (an Indian word) was hunted for its meat and fur.

BLACKBERRIES

Wild blackberries were picked in the late spring and early summer, adding vitamin C to the diet.

Handout #4

NATURAL RESOURCE CARDS

RED RASPBERRIES

Red raspberries were picked in the early summer months, adding vitamin C to the Indians’ diet.

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GRAY SQUIRREL

The gray squirrel was hunted for its meat and fur.

WHELK

Whelk live in the lower Bay. They were gathered and eaten, and the shells were a valuable trade item.

BLUEBERRIES

Wild blueberries grow in swampy or marshy areas. They were picked in the early summer months, adding vitamin C to the Indians’ diet.

Handout #4

What Americas forests looked like before Europeans Arrived.    

              Level 3 reading.

TEACHER DIRECTIONS

An artit' illutration of a pre-uropean ettlement Pennlvania foret, with red oak, Americaneech and weet irch tree growing next to wetland tream.

uropean ettler tranformed America' Northeatern foret. From hitoric record and foil,reearcher know the landcape and plant are radicall different toda than the were 400 earago.

ut little direct evidence exit to prove which tree pecie filled the foret efore the werecleared for field and fuel. wamp-loving plant, like edge and tuock, are the foil urvivor,not delicate leave from hardwood tree.

Now, thank to a rare foil dicover in the Pennlvania foothill, cientit can tell the full torof America' lot foret.

The foil ite i a mudd laer packed with leave from hardwood tree that lived more than 300ear ago along Conetoga Creek in Lancater Count, Pa. The muck wa laid down efore one ofPennlvania' 10,000 mill dam, called Denlinger' Mill, wa uilt near, damming the treamand uring the mud and leave in ediment.

Reearcher from Franklin & Marhall College in Lancater, Pa., dicovered the foil leave whileinvetigating the lingering effect of milldam. The thouand of mall dam — which powered

mill, forge and other indutr — changed the water tale, altering the plant growing nearand eventuall changing the landcape from wetland to deepl incied, quickl flowing tream.

efore uropean arrived, American eech, red oak and weet irch tree haded ConetogaCreek, according to a tud the reearcher pulihed toda (Nov. 13) in the journal PLO ON.ome 300 ear later, thoe tree are gone. The ame pot i now home to motl ox elder andugar maple tree, aid ara lliott, the tud' lead author and a reearch aociate at theUniverit of Texa at Autin' ureau of conomic Geolog.

"Thi i a ver unuual opportunit to compare modern and foil foret aemlage," lliott toldLivecience. "It' like ou're time traveling," he aid.

lliott carefull peeled apart hundred of leave tuck together  mud and laered like a pile oftick note. Wahing the leave in a variet of chemical ath helped lliott determine the leave'tructure and pecie. The reearch wa performed at Penn tate Univerit.

Foil leave encaed in mud preerve the hitor of pre-uropean ettlement Pennlvaniaforet.

Other kind of tree found in the foil laer that have ince vanihed from North Americainclude the American chetnut, which wa attacked  an imported fungal dieae called thechetnut light. Leave from wamp plant alo appear in the mud, confirming that the foretedpot wa on the uplope edge of a near wetland. [Image Galler: Plant in Danger]

"We had a valle margin foret growing right next to the valle ottom in conjunction with allthee wetland," lliott aid. "I think we reall have a rather complete picture now of what thelandcape wa like in thi region."

The three dominant tree pecie found in the foil foret leave till exit toda in the Northeat,ut in different proportion and in different place, lliot aid.

The cientit hope that identifing imilar foil tree-leaf ite will help the maive milldamretoration project underwa throughout the Northeat. The dam left a legac of toxic edimentpiled up ehind their wall, a well a rehaped the landcape.

"Having a more complete and enhanced undertanding of thi pat dnamic and complexlandcape will help in retoring an ecologicall divere and functional tem," lliott aid.

ditor' note: Thi tor wa updated Nov. 14 to add that Franklin & Marhall College cientitdicovered the foil leaf ite.

Epistola Christofori Colom ...de insulis Indie supra Gangem Rome, April 1493. (abridged) A Letter addressed to the noble Lord Raphael Sanchez, Treasurer to their most invincible Majesties, Ferdinand and Isabella, King and Queen of Spain, by Christopher Columbus, to whom our age is greatly indebted, treating of the islands of India recently discovered beyond the Ganges, to explore which he had been sent eight months before under the auspices and at the expense of their said Majesties.

. . . Thirty-three days after my departure from Cadiz I reached the Indian sea, where I

discovered many islands, thickly peopled, of which I took possession without resistance in the

name of our most illustrious Monarch, by public proclamation and with unfurled banners. To

the first of these islands, which is called by the Indians Guanahani, I gave the name of the

blessed Saviour (San Salvador), relying upon whose protection I had reached this as well as the

other islands; to each of these I also gave a name, ordering that one should be called Santa

Maria de la Concepcion, another Fernandina, the third Isabella, the fourth Juana, and so with all

the rest respectively. . . .

. . . In that island also which I have before said we named Espanola, there are mountains of very

great size and beauty, vast plains, groves, and very fruitful fields, admirably adapted for tillage,

pasture, and habitation. The convenience and excellence of the harbors in this island, and the

abundance of the rivers, so indispensable to the health of man, surpass anything that would be

believed by one who had not seen it. The trees, herbage, and fruits of Espanola are very

different from those of Juana, and moreover it abounds in various kinds of spices, gold, and

other metals. . . .

. . . On my arrival at that sea, I had taken some Indians by force from the first island that I came

to, in order that they might learn our language, and communicate to us what they knew

respecting the country; which plan succeeded excellently, and was a great advantage to us, for

in a short time, either by gestures and signs, or by words, we were enabled to understand each

2

© 2013 The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History www.gilderlehrman.org

other. These men are still travelling with me, and although they have been with us now a long

time, they continue to entertain the idea that I have descended from heaven; and on our arrival

at any new place they published this, crying out immediately with a loud voice to the other

Indians, “Come, come and look upon beings of a celestial race”: upon which both women and

men, children and adults, young men and old, when they got rid of the fear they at first

entertained, would come out in throngs, crowding the roads to see us, some bringing food,

others drink, with astonishing affection and kindness. . . .

. . . Finally, to compress into few words the entire summary of my voyage and speedy return,

and of the advantages derivable therefrom, I promise, that with a little assistance afforded me

by our most invincible sovereigns, I will procure them as much gold as they need, as great a

quantity of spices, of cotton, and of mastic (which is only found in Chios), and as many men for

the service of the navy as their Majesties may require. I promise also rhubarb and other sorts of

drugs, which I am persuaded the men whom I have left in the aforesaid fortress have found

already and will continue to find; for I myself have tarried nowhere longer than I was compelled

to do by the winds, except in the city of Navidad, while I provided for the building of the

fortress, and took the necessary precautions for the perfect security of the men I left there.

Although all I have related may appear to be wonderful and unheard of, yet the results of my

voyage would have been more astonishing if I had had at my disposal such ships as I required.

But these great and marvellous results are not to be attributed to any merit of mine, but to the

holy Christian faith, and to the piety and religion of our Sovereigns; for that which the unaided

intellect of man could not compass, the spirit of God has granted to human exertions, for God is

wont to hear the prayers of his servants who love his precepts even to the performance of

apparent impossibilities. . . .

Such are the events which I have briefly described. Farewell.

Lisbon, the 14th of March.

CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS,

Admiral of the Fleet of the Ocean.