Dan Griffith of the Archaeological Society of Delaware will present “17th Century Indian Towns in Sussex County” at 2 p.m. at the Nanticoke Indian Museum near Millsboro on Friday, Nov. 14.
The admission cost is $5 per person.
Griffith, during a telephone conversation with the Coastal Point, said he will focus on American Indian towns from 1600 and 1700.
His research indicated Capt. John Smith came into Delaware downstream from Seaford near the confluence of Broadcreek and the Nanticoke River, Griffith said.
“In June 1608, Capt. John Smith, from Jamestown, Va., sailed up what is now known as the Nanticoke River and encountered an Indian nation he called the Kuskarawaoks. He mapped three Indian towns on that river, Nause, Nantiquak and Kuskarawaoks. The latter was the home of the leadership of the Kuskarawaoks, which John Smith called the Kings’ House. The Kuskarawaoks later became known as the Nanticoke — as well as the river — when, in the mid-17th century, the leadership of the Kuskarawaoks relocated to the town of Nantiquak.
“On the eastern side of Sussex County, near present day Lewes, there was reported a town occupied by Indian people named by the Dutch the Siconece. The Indian town near Lewes was later known in English as Chesonesseck, translated as Place of the Siconece.
“By the late 17th century, the Maryland colony began to establish reservations for the Nanticoke and Assateague peoples. By the mid-18th century, the reservation system was abandoned. Some Indian people migrated to the north, joining Indian communities in what is now Pennsylvania and New York, while some Indian families stayed behind in their home territory of southern Delaware and adjacent Maryland counties,” Griffith explained.
He said Indian towns were not what Europeans expected, but “they found out real quick” that the towns were linear arrangements of houses and dwellings…
Pittston Area’s Brody Spindler (0) has brought a power running game to the Patriots. Tony Callaio | Times Leader File Photo
