Indigenous Peoples’ Day honors the original inhabitants of the Americas – the first people who called this land home. Today we’re sharing an assortment of Preservation Maryland grant-funded projects, cultural heritage features, and resources so you can explore the histories that are an elemental part of life in Maryland.
Just last week we shared a recap of an event we sponsored, along with the Baltimore Community Archaeology Lab (BCAL) at Towson University, and the Native American Liaison Committee of the Council for Maryland Archeology (CfMA), the Summit of Maryland Indigenous People and Archaeologists. The summit was the result of two years of discussions focused on building understanding and identifying best practices among communities who greatly value Maryland’s heritage and culture and who want to establish good relations and practices to support mutual preservation priorities, access, and knowledge sharing. More than 90 people attended the summit, with participants from state agencies, museums, institutions of higher education, municipal governments, state recognized Native American tribes, and Indigenous communities.
Last year NPS Chesapeake Gateway awarded 22 Grants Totaling Nearly $2.3M to advance the Chesapeake Bay watershed. One of those projects is EXPANDING ACCESS TO BLACK AND INDIGENOUS NARRATIVES OF THE POTOMAC, which was awarded $47,731. Building on previous work to recognize and interpret the significance of the Piscataway Park landscape to the Piscataway people, the Accokeek Foundation Inc. will curate a collection of oral histories focusing on BIPOC fishing industry workers to create effective interpretive materials.
A community engagement initiative of the Maryland State Library Agency and Maryland’s public libraries, Guide to Indigenous Maryland, is a resource exploring the cultural heritage of the Native American and Indigenous peoples “whose traditions and histories are an integral part of contemporary life in Maryland.” Engage with histories, stories, and the interactive map.
Before Europeans arrived in Maryland there were many tribes of indigenous people with complex communities and languages, and while these tribes differed in several ways, they shared many aspects of their culture, too, like music. Preservation Maryland shared an introduction to the sounds and songs of Maryland’s first people. You can read – and hear – more about those traditions here.
The Accokeek Foundation was awarded a $10,000 Spring 2022 Heritage Fund grant to support the development of a new wayside exhibit located at the National Colonial Farm’s Hall Tobacco Barn.
Next to the Potomac River, contiguous with Piscataway Park, is the mid-century community of Moyaone Reserve. In 2020 Preservation Maryland’s Heritage Fund, in partnership with the Maryland Historical Trust, helped fund the costs associated with the nomination of Moyaone Reserve to the National Register of Historic Places; the designation was granted in October 2020.
