The main reason we ideated a YouTube channel was to share our trips to state parks, but then our visit to South Korea happened to be first on deck so we decided to start with videos of that trip instead. But here we are now - our first video to a local state park! It was a trip we took back in May of this year (2022) to Machimococco State Park, which is a relatively new park which opened in April of 2021. It’s about an hour and 20 minutes from Richmond heading east towards the Chesapeake Bay and the park borders the York River.
It is becoming increasingly important to me to know where we live. In the past couple of years that has meant visiting our local parks, learning what grows in our region, and discovering trails and creeks that lead to the Bay not too far east of us. We homeschooled for a year during the 2020-2021 school year, and for part of our history lessons, we learned about the history of where we live and visited the Pamunkey Indian Museum on the Pamunkey Reservation. (The museum is small but it is excellent!)
Machimococco State Park is another such opportunity - where we can learn both about the history as well as the landscape and things that grow in the area. Along with reading good literature, I can’t think of anything more important to the process of understanding who we are and our connection to the world around us.
We spent half a day at this park and loved getting to explore this quiet, peaceful place. It is beautiful, with trails along both woodlands and waterfront marsh areas. I especially loved the pavilion that provided information about the culture, landscape and movement of Virginia Indians. The girls has a great time going through their junior ranger books here and getting their badge!
Here is some more information from the DCR.VIRGINIA.GOV website:
“To Virginia Algonquian speakers, eastern Virginia is known as Tsenacomacoh with Werowocomoco as its capital. Over 30 tribes comprised the Algonquian Powhatan Confederacy at its height, an organization linked by the eastern-Algonquian language and united under Chief Wahunsenacawh. Machicomoco will soon be a new Virginia State Park currently in phase I construction and slated to open early 2021 to the public.
Algonquian language and cosmology frames the land and waterscape to represent the experiential qualities of the land. Wayfinding and interpretation throughout the park references geography, physical characteristics of land and ecology using Algonquian language and cultural signifiers. The park, designed in collaboration with input from tribal representatives, seeks to immerse visitors in the history of this land and the rich Powhatan presence that is deeply linked to this land.
Today, descendants of these tribes, namely the Chickahominy, Eastern Chickahominy, Mattaponi, Upper Mattaponi, Monacan, Nansemond, Nottoway, Cheroenhaka (Nottoway), Pamunkey, Patawomeck and Rappahannock, are continuing to assert their presence and engagement with the Tidewater region of Virginia.” Nelson Byrd Woltz, 2020,
The full video below:
