Algonquian-speaking Native Americans migrated to the area from the north at least 800 years before the first Europeans arrived.
It was home to the Chickahominy, Paspahegh and Weyanock tribes when the Susan Constant, the Godspeed and the Discovery entered the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay in 1607 and sailed up the James River.
[3] By the time of the English colonization of the area, the greatest power in the Virginia Tidewater region was the Powhatan confederacy of thirty tribes.
Each of the four "citties [sic]" extended across the James River, the main conduit of transportation of the era.
While some settlers farmed the land, others made pitch, tar, potash, and charcoal for the Company.