Mission: Build a sustainable community on the Chesapeake Bay that will extend the thousands of years of Mattaponi history and heritage and, in doing so, demonstrate to all people how they may live successful and rewarding lives in harmony with the earth.
The Mattaponi Indian Reservation was established on ancestral land in an1658 treaty with Virginia. Situated on the Mattaponi River, the tribe was identified by the name Mattaponi and at that location by John Smith in 1607. It was one of the tribes under the famous Chief Powhatan. The treaty requires an annual tribute payment to Virginia’s governor of fish and game which the tribe still honors along with their neighbors the Pamunkey.
Fishing has always been central to the Mattaponi’s culture, shad in particular. Today the tribe operates a fish hatchery started with a grant from the Virginia Institute for Marine Science. According to their website, “Each year the Mattaponi people return millions of shad fingerlings into the river, putting back more than they take away.”
Other buildings on the reservation include homes, a church, an Indian museum and a community building that once served as a tribal school. Land is held in common but plots are assigned for members’ use.
Tribal Governance
The Mattaponi has its own sovereign government, the Mattaponi Tribal Council, made up of a chief, a vice chief and seven council members. The Custalow family has been prominent in tribal leadership for many years. The tribal roll has about the same number as were identified by the English in the 1600s, around 450 members, of whom about 60 live on the reservation.
The reservation, located in King William County east of Richmond off routes 360 and 30, consists of about 125 acres, part of it wetland, which they are hoping to expand. To this end, the non-profit Mattaponi Heritage Foundation has been formed to seek funding. Their dream of the Mattaponi:
“Combining modern science with indigenous knowledge about the ecology of the river and bay, the Mattaponi people seek to show all of mankind how to live in harmony with the natural world while sustaining the highest quality of life.”
