INDIAN  SITES  BELOW  THE  FALLS  OF  THE 
RAPPAHANNOCK,  VIRGINIA 
By  DAVID  I.  BUSHNELL,  Jr. 
(With  21  Plates) 
INTRODUCTION 
During  the  summer  of  1608,  the  year  following  the  settlement 
of  Jamestown,  parties  of  the  colonists  made  two  successful  and, 
considered  in  retrospect,  very  important  expeditions  along  the  shores 
of  Chesapeake  Bay.  They  discovered  many  streams  that  flow  into 
the  bay  and  came  in  contact  with  the  natives  who  occupied  the  ter- 
ritory. The  second  party  left  Jamestown  July  24  and  returned 
late  in  August,  after  having  explored  the  country  to  the  northward, 
to  the  mouth  of  the  Rappahannock.  They  entered  the  river  and 
continued  up  the  stream  to  the  large  island  at  the  falls,  near  the 
present  city  of  Fredericksburg,  as  far  as  their  boat  could  be  taken. 
The  valleys  beyond  were  occupied  by  the  Manahoac  tribes,  a  Siouan 
group  ever  enemies  of  their  Algonquian  neighbors ;  many  camps 
and  villages  of  the  latter  were  then  standing  on  the  banks  of  the 
Rappahannock  below  the  island  and  had  been  passed  by  the  English 
when  they  ascended  the  stream.  However,  no  villages  were  en- 
countered within  a  distance  of  10  or  12  miles  of  the  falls;  that  part 
of  the  valley  appeared  to  have  been  recently  abandoned  by  the  Algon- 
quian tribes. 
The  country  claimed  and  occupied  by  the  Manahoac  tribes  in  1608 
has  already  been  described,'  together  with  examples  of  material 
from  various  localities,  and  consequently,  it  is  now  thought  desirable 
to  present,  for  comparison,  a  brief  description  of  sites  that  have 
been  discovered  on  the  banks  of  the  river,  beginning  at  Leedstown, 
the  early  colonial  settlement  some  40  miles  below  the  falls,  and  con- 
tinuing up  the  valley. 
I  am  again  indebted  to  Capt.  H.  K.  Baisley,  United  States  Army 
Air  Corps,  for  aerial  photographs  of  the  areas  described  ;  and  to 
F.  M.  Aldridge,  of  Fredericksburg,  and  R.  G.  Paine  and  E.  G. 
Cassedy,  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution,  for  assistance  in  locating 
sites  and  material. 
*  Bushnell,  David  I.,  Jr.,  The  Manahoac  tribes  in  Virginia,  1608.    Smithsonian 
Misc.  Coll.,  vol.  94,  no.  8,  1935. 
Smithsonian  Miscellaneous  Collections,  Vol.  96,  No.  4 
I 
