An ancient Native American town and its people were honored Saturday with a historical marker on Saturday. Large plaque for Dasamunkepeuc, the capital of the Roanoke Indians, was unveiled by today’s Roanoke-Hatteras Indians at their 10th annual powwow held on their ancestral land in Manteo.
The first Native American town encountered by the English expeditions of 1584 and 1585, Dasemunkepeuc (DA-say-mun-ke-puc) was located on Croatan Sound on the mainland across from Roanoke Island. After the Roanoke Indians welcomed the two expeditions, miscalculations on part of the English led to attacks on Dasemunkepeuc and other towns. Following that, the third expedition’s settlers, known as the Lost Colony, arrived among an angered and hostile population.
The marker was nominated by the Chowan Discovery Group, Many of the Winton Triangle people share ancestry and heritage with the Roanoke-Hatteras Indians. This the fourth marker sponsored by the Chowan Discovery Group and the second Chowan Discovery marker for a Native American town (see Choanoac). The North Carolina Office of Archives and History (Department of Cultural Resources) approved Chowan Discovery’s nomination and provided the marker. New CDG-nominated makers are coming for the Roanoke Island Freedmens Colony (Manteo, NC) and another ancient Algonquian town, Aquascogoc (Bel Haven, NC).