Post 3: Life Writing

The Anacostia River of the Past, Present, and Future

The Anacostia River comes off the Potomac and right through College Park, Maryland. It was named after the Nacotchtank people, an indigineous group that once lived in a large village as a part of the Piscataway nation (National Park Service [NPS], 2018). Their descendants are now scattered throughout the region (Cedarville Band of Piscataway Indians [CBPI], 2021).

These people’s livelihoods were centered around the river; it provided a consistent source of food in the form of migratory fish (NPS, 2018). The forests surrounding the Anacostia are now largely cut down and what remains is secondary growth but historically the Nacotchtank hunted wild game including turkey, quail, geese, ducks, deer, elk, bear, and bison in these areas (NPS, 2018). They also relied on the river’s floodplain for agriculture, clearing out the adjacent wetlands to grow corn, squash, and other food items (NPS, 2018). Also, the proximity of the Anacostia and the access to the Potomac this provided allowed Nacotchtank to be a center of trade and commerce for local and distant indigineous groups (NPS, 2018).

Today, the Anacostia River and the surrounding areas look much different and play very different roles in people’s lives. It runs through a mostly urbanized city on the outskirts of DC. Most of the people living there are not indigineous and do not center their lives around this natural feature, they instead experience it through the trails and the nearby man-made Lake Artemesia for exercise, community, education, and to see the local plant and animal life. The forests are fractions of what they once were, and none of the old growth remains. The once ubiquitous American Chestnut Trees have died out, and much of the wildlife (including wolves, elk, bear, etc.) have been extirpated from the region (Maryland Department of Natural Resources [MD DNR]).

Looking towards the future, The Cedarville Band of Piscataway Indians is currently fighting to restore indigineous ownership and sovereignty of the land in this region through the #LANDBACK movement (CBPI, 2021). They are descendants of the original inhabitants of the area and refer to themselves as “Wee-so”, which means “The People” (CBPI, 2021). Their goals of restoring their rightful ownership of the land is tied to lifting indigineous people out of poverty and undoing the damage caused by colonialism (CBPI, 2021).

Works Cited

“Maryland Indians: Piscataway Indians: Piscataway People.” CBPI, Cedarville Band of Piscataway Indians, 2021, https://www.piscatawayindians.com/.

“Maryland Mammals.” Department of Natural Resources, Maryland Department of Natural Resources, https://dnr.maryland.gov/wildlife/Pages/plants_wildlife/Mammals.aspx.

“Native Peoples of Washington, DC (U.S. National Park Service).” National Parks Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, 10 Jan. 2018, https://www.nps.gov/articles/native-peoples-of-washington-dc.htm.