The Once As It Was map of Washington, DC

You'll see the Melbourne, AU version of this map in the following post.
Here's the Once As It Was map for DC that was inspired by the Melbourne map!
Click the link below to go to the website. Each of the icons on the map will open a box explaining the Anacostan history that relates to site.

http://onceasitwasdc.org/

The Once As It Was Map

Back in Melbourne, AU, at a local library, I found this poster that shows what the area looked like when the Indigenous Peoples lived here.
A future map of Washington, DC that shows our land when the Anacostan/Nacotchtank tribe lived here is now in the works!

The History of the Anacostan/Nacotchtank Indians in Washington, DC

Here's an article I put together that retells some of the major archaeological finds regarding the American Indians, the Anacostans, sometimes called the Nacotchtank, who lived in DC when the European settlers arrived in America. Click the link below to see the pdf:*

“Why Did the Anacostan Indians Choose to Live on Capitol Hill?”

                                Drawing from 1590s showing a Dog in a Virginia Native Village
The article discusses the roles dogs played in Native life.

*Note: the first pdf has been replaced with an updated version, including more information about the various names that have been used for the Anacostan/Nacotchtank natives of Washington, DC.

Los Angeles Prominently Acknowledges Its Native Peoples

If you visit the excellent "Becoming LA" exhibit at the LA Natural History Museum, you'll find this prominent description of their Native Peoples in the first room.  Hint-hint DC!

Thanks for the Supportive Comments & 1590 Village Drawing!

This has been a great week when supportive comments about establishing a Native Village Marker on Capitol Hill have been sent by the following folk:

My continued thanks to the Staff at the Library of Congress, both for Reference help and excellent identification of important maps!!

Dr. Ruth Trocolli District Archaeologist, Washington, DC
Dr. Joe Watkins, Natioanal Park Service, American Indian Liaison Officer;Chief, Tribal Relations & American Cultures; and Supervisory Cultural Anthropologist

Elayne Silversmith (Diné), Librarian, Smithsonian Libraries, Vine Deloria, Jr. Library, Cultural Resources Center
Dr. GabrielleTayac, Member of the Piscataway Indian Nation and National Museum of the American Indian Historian 
Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton

Above: 1590 drawing of an Indian Village (DC Indians used huts as shown, not teepees as on local maps)
From: 
Lost arrows : the story of the Indians in the District of Columbia / adapted by Elizabeth W. Rounds from data furnished by Neil M. Judd ; edited by Cleveland Park Community Library Committee, Washington, D. C. 1948 DC Library call #: 970.4JUV 970.4

National Museum of the American Indian does a great job with the story of NY Indians.

Here's a link for the story of the Indians who once lived in Manhatten.
Too bad the story of DC Indians isn't told as well in DC!

http://nmai.si.edu/sites/1/files/pdf/education/Manahatta_to_manhattan.pdf  (This link no longer works, see update below)

 
The Lenape lived in Manahatta, now called Manhattan, prior to European contact. The word Lenape (len-AH-pay) means “the people” in their langu age. The Lenape spoke an Algonquian language, one of many families of languages in North America.  ...

.May 2023 update

Some time after this post, the NMAI seems to have taken down the Manahatta to Manhattenan pdf praised above. Why that was done is unclear.

Readers can still review the pdf, which is posted on a Native American educational site based in Washington state:

Manahatta to Manhatten PDF from Washington state

The Spring on Duddington Place Was an Important Spot For Natives

There was a spring on what is now Duddington Pl, SE, between 1st & 2nd Sts.  The natives used that water supply and so did the 1st builder in the area - Daniel Carroll of Duddington (1764-1849) put his house there.