On Monday, May 21, at 7 p.m., the Salem Museum will present a program about the Virginia Indians who lived in the Salem area long before the arrival of European settlers. The event is free and open to the public.

Hundreds of years before Salem became a town, another people had established a town here along the banks of the Roanoke River. They called themselves the Yesa, but they are better remembered today by the name given them in the 1600s by European explorers: the Tutelo. These Virginia Indians were a clan that was part of the Monacan Indian Nation which has recently received federal recognition. Victoria Ferguson, a member of the Monacan Indian Nation, will describe the culture, traditions and technologies of her ancestors, and share what happened to the Tutelo after they left this region.

Ferguson is the Director of the Monacan Indian Living History Exhibit at Natural Bridge, a reconstruction of a small-scale Monacan Indian town. Skilled historical interpreters – including Ferguson – give guests a greater appreciation for the cultures of Virginia Indians through demonstrations of traditional activities such as cooking, basket weaving, building, and tool production.

-Submitted by Frances Ferguson, Salem Museum & Historical Society Executive Director