Transcripts For CSPAN2 The 20240704

Funding for cspan2 comes from these Television Companies and more including cox. This syndrome is completely rare. Some dont have to be. When youre connected, youre not alone. Cox along with these Television Companies report cspan2 is a public service. Have the privilege of revisiting Congressional District virginia is home to so many i incredible sites, cultur, environmental success for our nation. Work to get to ensure preservation for futuree generations to learn about history will. Among i many of these located in this region of my district, doing a great job keeping it going. When i think about this, while it is great, it is tenth of the size and it does not look as you think. Theyve done a a great job keepg it up and i couldnt be more proud. Home and refuge to indigenous population to create an environment of selfsustaining community enslavement between indigenous relational those who are in every in these artifacts. Swamp is one of the only undergrounde railroads, those clean leg record useless fordo cover to get to freedom. This environmental value in the region, we must do everything we can despite what continues to be present. Ne it is one of the areas and Climate Change will this should be a concern for everyone. This is a unique system with a wide array of plants, insects and it plays a vital role continues with the climate crisisis and helping to absorb e atmosphere and contain our global temperatures. Understand our nations history and helping ensure Healthy Future of the i am proud to fight for the patient. All i this legislation to designate the National Heritage area. To conserve this is why live in an area in the region. The National Heritage and they over simulate and local economic this is an opportunity for the House Appropriations Committee Consideration for the inclusion of this process so the request is to move and preserve one of the oldest in the region. I want to salute and command for your efforts alike on this important and one of the most endangered places in the area. This is true of historical environmental trends in the fight for preservation continue toer include to this is in the process throughout. Please know whenever and wherever you need me. With this innovation and ict lok forward to this collaboration to protect this incredible reason for allowing me to join you today i hope you are wonderful conversation. Thank you for all that you are doing. Take care. Figure. As i mentioned, the conservationist recognizing the important connection between these resources. The National Heritage area are tools used in these efforts and we have a panel to talk more about these areas and we focus on creating the National Heritage as you heard them talk about of it. Id like to also say we have them answer any questions you might have. One quick housekeeping note, will take russians at the end so please put that in the queue and i. We have a number of excellent speakers and we will be sure to get back to you with that, one at ayo time. First up, id like to introduce our director of occupation and education. The interpretation preservation and operation of details in his work further and these are open to theli public. John has the cape henry white house. Will briefly share the historic site. Talking about this response but im going to talk about some ways that are utilizing our open space around that so a brief overview of the projects involved so i am going to go ahead and share. There we go. The first site we are going to dive into, the great aerial shot of the property and negative as i have a map that was drawn up 63 and its upside down the orientation but i did want to say in the process of developing a master plan for the entire property so we are not focused on these structuress but ways we have the landscape and the general public so we own about 23 acres and historically weve only been in this area for the work. So we have so much archaeology and so much work to do and we know from Historical Records on this property we have goal of ours, we want to make sure we are working to have a better understanding prior to 1717 with the original process. I o gives an interview of what t looks like the while they are still undergoing a lot of research we are utilizing the space in as many different ways as we can and this is really through partnership. Everything we are talkingt about is all about partnership. That is really the only way we can possibly move forward so partnering with these age groups for livestock and partnering with master gardeners and develop learning gardens and entrepreneurs and businesses to the town, those are verye traditional partnering and using the landscape we have. We will move on to the property starting with an older map. This is the same situation, 40 acres with this property and we are looking forward to developing land to help us develop a plan to integrate all of that land and that so iarchaeology again is a major factor in how this is going to play out but are fortunate have this permanent forest. Pretty much been used ever since so in collaboration is to do a historicd road train and the pn is to reopen three and a half mile road trail and it was not built on the water, the creek where they could get up and down the with this channel so are working with landowners to see if we can reopen and it will open the property of walking and forest trails. So moving on, this was built in the 1750s and it comes from a 1619 area that john smith began that they werent able to complete. It became part of this corner, you can see the garden club and this event was taking place so we have a walking trail back to the site. There are other ways and local land area and our property for several years. Its just bringing a lot for people to get their own. Moving on to kate henry, we have worked in partnership also with the park site so our interpreters go through different areas on the bottom righthand corner in world war ii and it is builtin and working with this story, we are then able to utilize that space with our interpreters through the area. Just get in idea of how the area was used were 400 plus years. The last area coming up next week, the least amount of property of all historic sites, theres not much landscape and write down the middle here. This is freedom consolation project taking place next week for 160 plus banners are going to go on life and commercial street and they are representing a project to work toward this so this is in partnership with the Mayors Office and it will be the main hearing so we are working with landscape and you can download this and you can see the panels come to life and he goes up into the sky in the car so this is my favorite, it is a great way to tie these issues. So this is just a sample of these landscapes. Now we will from Elizabeth Meyer with the National Heritage help, National Park service along with national and technical assistant, 55 of these areas. Shes also working sorry, a technical issue here. In 44 states this provides Technical Assistance for emerging. Shes worked as an archaeologist and National Park service and this protection program. Thanks and i want to say thank you for the invitation this afternoon. Im going to give an overview. A little bit about benefits and communities in the nation. A little bit about how they are designated in this office. First, what are National Heritage areas . The quick cancer isar there landscape of National Importance designated by congress. A place and an organizational model or conservation effort. When organizing model for local management there. Focus on interdisciplinary process. Ithis is designated and it creates the heritage area and the local government and the institutions orr federal emissions. Many activities address multiple conservation w strategs in once in project so while these are called out separately a lot of projects and programs combine them and i can talk about more examples later on. But in general this is a broad approach towards a large landscape, and it sometimes can cultivate new ways of seeing and learning from landscape from its resources and really at the core from its people. So wherere are the nhas for i know that noty only an organizg model but also a place. As trip mentioned there are 55 heritage areas across 34 states in the country. You can tell hear from this map that they vary in size but in general they are strategic assemblages of resources that allows an important interplay between the landscape and its features to tell a story. They are usually nationally distinctive landscapes meaning this is a place, the best places to tell the story in america. And theyey can represent differt types, e different eras of histy or different elements of our story in america and that can be industry, events, or people, or people or person so some examples, intrinsic telling a story of industry and the industry played out cross landscape includes motor cities National Heritage areas in michigan rivers of steel National Heritage area in the pittsburgh area of pennsylvania, or silos and smokestacks National Heritage area in iowa which tells of an Agricultural Industry here and then you have events or kind of trends our history that can relate to the transportation so we have a bunch of canal systems that are part of the Heritage Area Program we also have with the first one, the first designated heritage Area Heritage area being the illinois and michigan canal connecting the great lakes to the mississippi. Then we also have what i mentioned theres people or person with Abraham Lincoln National Heritage area in central illinois. How his life was shaped by the area. And that we also have the National Cultural heritage herie corridor along the coast from North Carolina down to florida, and the goal of teaching people and how they interacted with landscape and other landscape influenced them. I also encourage anyone to go under website andnd check out ts map thats there and you can see how your life is interacted with heritage areas across the country or maybe didnt realize you in one and benefit from some of the programs insights there. What did he do . How do they fulfill the legislation enter mandates for congress . Mainly through Publicprivate Partnership which will is amount of Cost Effective way to preserve his nationally important natural cultural historical recreational resources. And its kind of true accretion of working partnership. They expand upon traditional conservation approaches we get a large scale approach Community Driven like Grassroots Level that projects and programs are developed and carried out. At the. Same time theres a grassroots in the local effort. The connection is clear with the mission of the park service and furthering that mission across the larger landscape than just what the parkar service owns any part unit boundary. Part of that is making his connections thoe connections to other sites that may be the park service doesnt own and manage themselves, but also helps fill a larger story of our shared heritage. And some of thatha is through expanding upon previously underrepresented communities, helping to tell stories that maybe havent been told previously, making connections and partnerships with groups that maybe havent had an opportunity in the past to tell their story too help them give a platform and a space. Heritage areas also usually provide some grants and thats a way to help their network at the local level and i could help you carry out certain l projects lie Water Quality interpretation and Historic Preservation, signs. Heritage areas are located in virginia may be familiar with them and so maybe you are theres theirs heritage area, now i understand what they do, how they operate across the country which i gave you to examples the one journey through how the grant come out of their premier projects programs as National History academy which is happening partly right now pictures of a Summer Program for middle school and high school students. To virtualitched last year was able to make that switch and i think this year they are also doing some virtual programming. Is also theis Shenandoah Valley National Historic district which despite its name is part of the program in general. And they carry out battlefield preservation activities, interpretation at the visitor center, signage, marketers anything such as conferences and other research sharing events. So whatau dont they do . There is some confusion because they are tied to the park service whether or not they are units or how theyre connected to thets spirit just want to be clear they do not become units of the park service when theyre designated in nha. I did want to point out though on the right hear a photo or give an example how federal lands is connected to a heritage area. This is Muscle Shoals National Heritage area in northern alabama. There is a wildlife refuge within the boundary of the heritage area, the Wheeler National wildlife refuge. The heritage area works with the wildlife refuge when they were doing their planning and Management Planning and how they can provide more interpretation kind of fairness part of the state to the general public or to visitors. And so they were active participants in the planning and understanding how interpretation can be expanded. Heritage every designation does not impact private property rights, meaning there are not regulations that come with it, meaning people can or cant do certain things with the property or have to go through some design review. Thats not part of what nhas arctic also does not require Public Access to sites. The land as a volunteer if you want to work with heritage area it is to provide Public Access to yourr private property or wok in other projects that may come downre the pike. That required all pickets to fall into the just want to mention that they do operate from topdown and there i mean the park service isnt dictating, were notre there evy day managing what happens. Its really defined by the local entity how we work with them and what type of assistance they may need from us and that leads into little bit more, so how does a park service actual put into this program and what do we actually do . We are part of the public site of the Publicprivate Partnership thats created through designation of a heritage area. And i say part because there are other public entities, right . There could be state entities other federal agencies compliant on agencies that come into play with the partnership as i noted with the fish and wildlife refuge. We offer Technical Assistance to existing heritage areas that are required to do a Management Plane with plan with our first designated we process. The we can offer Technical Assistance across the park service not just the nha Program Stafff but connect to other pars of his Staff Members who are expert in interpretation and education. As well as Resource Preservation and connected conservation approach to a larger landscape. There is funding assistance that is provided to heritage areas, and Program Staff to manage those cooperative agreements and attending. And the funding there is to really develop and implement the Management Plan. So help a them carry out those activities in and those actis that are noted in the Management Plan. S of heritage areas to assess their accomplishments and fulfilling their legislation and implementing the Management Plan and their and their use of the federal funding. So here im not going to read all of this, but i just want to point out some benefits of heritage areas and really these are stats that on the Program Gathers annually from the existing heritage areas to understand how theyre using their funds how theyre supporting their communities what networks their their partnering with its a local level and then kind of as those buckets i noted in conservation recreation preservation. Education, how are they interact or how are they carrying out those types of projects . So ill point out one example here is from south park National Heritage area in colorado. They have been working on a project here at the paris mill site. Which was for processing gold ore its from the lets see. So make sure i have it right the mill site dates back to 1874. It is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and the heritage area partnered with the state Historic Preservation office there and applied for a grant through them. To do a rehabilitation multiyear project on this site and i hear have a picture of a completed masonry work on one of the walls show kind of the different types of actual handson preservation that a heritage area can also be involved in and here the heritage area invested about 40,000 and was able to leverage up to 200,000 in a cash match. So really even to leverage some of that federal funding they get next ill point out another example of here you can see stats on recreation and conservation. But also i wanted to point out one where its a little bit more of an educational tilt and telling stories that may have not been told before is the South Carolina National Heritage corridor partnered with the barbados and carolinas legacy foundation. And they wanted to raise awareness of historic connections that bind South Carolina and barbados. And so they put on special events programs tours and promotion to encourage exploration of sites in a sea sites in a different way across the South Carolina landscape. So thats existing heritage areas what their tasks to do and how theyre carrying out those tasks. But how do you become a heritage area . Its really a legislative process. So that means include, you know have a bill introduced go through that legislative process of a hearing maybe markups have a vote get it signed by the president eventually. And so really congressional action needed. However, the park service can recommend steps that a community can take to kind of best be set up for becoming a heritage area one is a completion of a Feasibility Study and that involves, you know us promoting public involvement in the planning for that and a demonstrated Widespread Community involvement. Not just particular, you know limited public bow more of a Widespread Community involvement in this effort. And also commitment from key constituents stakeholders. Theyre really play a part in helping create this network of the Publicprivate Partnership thats needed to help. Nhb successful so the Feasibility Study maybe some of you are familiar with a special resource study when a Park Service Unit is proposed. Its kind of similar to that but to assess. The feasibility and suitability of an area becoming a heritage area. Its really a process to engage local people and organizations and discussing their future of the regions resources and quality of life and you know in those discussions maybe a heritage area is one option for meeting goals of that community and maybe its become decided that this is the route we want to take. This is the best to carry out what we want to do for our community at that local level. And so a Feasibility Study would be done. Its really a means to inventory assess and document the nationally important resources in that area. And those researchers can be tangible or intangible, but its really trying to get a community to think about whats unique about our area. Whats important maybe whats endangered whats underutilized . How can we help promote something or bring capacity to something that does isnt there right. Now it also has you look at whos going to be involved in the long term of this heritage area. And also what opportunities can be created if a heritage area is designated. Um, and lastly, ill just note the last bullet point here is its a way to also identify management funding and sustainability strategies. So its also a little bit about the management and Business Aspect of that local courting entity that possibly carry this out. And id be remiss if i didnt mention during national pollination. We pollinator week heritage areas also. This is an example of how heritage areas themselves are have come together across the country and work, you know, so even though theyre individual and their unique and they tell their own stories. They do come together to work on larger projects under the program. This is one example on the right from the john h chaffee, blackstone valley National Heritage corridor in rhode island in massachusetts. This was an effort to create or plant a Pollinator Garden at a site that you historically was a kitchen garden, but due to continuous flooding of the polluted river there. They didnt feel comfortable planting actual food. So they took it upon them. So say this to be great for a Pollinator Garden so they come worked with the rhode island. Wild Plant Society and was able carry this project out. And then lastly ill just note how our feasibility studies initiated if you are interested, they could be done by a local sponsors conducted by so biola organization they pay for it themselves. They maybe get a firm or consultant to help them carry this out. And if thats the case, then the park service can offer Technical Assistance and interpreting our guidelines for how to do feasibility studies and the criteria that we look at for the feasibility and suitability of an area. The other route is by congress. So congress can pass a law that do a direct the park service to conduct the study and then it would be a group of interdisciplinary folks from the park service that were tasked to do the study and there are two of those types of studies the Park Services carrying out right now one is the finger lakes in upstate new york, and the other is the kentucky wildlands in eastern, kentucky, and ive provided the websites there for you to look that up to see more information on how that process is going. And ill just leave it that note. There are multiple people in the program that are here if you have further questions myself and susan taylor in the washington office, and then theres regional coordinators as part of that Heritage Area Program. And one is peter samuel whos in the philadelphia office. And virginia is part of that region. And then alisa kun susan or Atlanta Office and North Carolina is part of that region and theres our website and our instagram if you want to learn more thank you. All right. Thank you elizabeth, and now we will go to chris lowey. Who is the refuge manager at the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife refuge. Chris began working with fish and wildlife in 1992 has been in virginia since 2001. And since 2007 has been the refuge manager at the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife refuge. One of the largest refugees in the eastern us chris turned over to you. Thank you trip working on getting my room. Theres not here. Its time to make sure that everybody can see that. Were good to go. All right. Thank you. Yeah, thank you for the opportunity. Good afternoon everybody. Its a privilege to be part of this webinar showcase in the Natural Heritage areas and the potential for the Great Dismal Swamp landscape the greater area of the Great Dismal Swamp to maybe fall into one of those designations one day. So i just have a fairly short presentation here just to give you some of the highlights of the refuge. We like to say its a reference for wildlife and a reference for people and you know many people know about the Natural Resource significance of the Great Dismal Swamp and more and more people are starting to learn about the cultural significance. So the great deal of the storm and so our webinars like this have been coming more regularly and its great that we can help tell the story of that significance. So well take a like i said a quick Little Journey some of these items have been mentioned earlier, but its time for some accusing said the supplies to be one million acres covering over two thousand square miles, so currently with the great business month nasa wildlife refuge and the North Carolina business swap state park and other Public Access places in the business line. Were sitting around about 150,000 opens. I did steal this image actually from the North Carolina digital swamp state park their interpretable information there, but i always like to start the presentation with itself. The refuge itself was established in 1974 under the dismal swamp act and purpose established by congress was to protect and preserve the unique in outstanding ecosystem. Protect and perpetuate the diversity of life theyre in. You know congressman keith and mentioned in his remarks of how you need this area is and its already been known as a very unique outstanding ecosystem. Secondary purpose of course is the promote the public useful program and provide Public Access to support stewardship for the area. Today the refuge itself is 113,000 acres and like i said, the North Carolina didnt want state park is about 15,000 acres. Theres no through roads not drive from one side north or south east to west straight through the swamp. You have to drive around it. Lake drummond is the largest natural lake in the state of virginia. Theres only two natural lakes in the state 3100 acres and as you can see on the satellite imagery. Its in the middle. Its the heart of the salon. I would like to call and so for people that live in the Hampton Roads area when you watch the weather on the news every night, you can often see the Business Laws and hopefully theres a good film and the geographic positioning when we talk about the people when you think of Roanoke Island in North Carolina Colonial Williamsburg first landing, you know the dismal swamp and again pictured a million acres a lot of people a lot of history. Came through the business stopping. Our comprehensive conservation plan. It was approved in 2016 and actually expires this july but until we have a new Management Plan that is vetted through public comment. You know, this plan will is our man is the plan and it sets the management direction for us for our Natural Resource protection a mans not the problems through the management while allowing public uses and that information is all in this plan and these three things all come together the natural cultural and you know the public use for stewardship. So i just the opponent diversity again many people know about the Natural Resource significance. We have over 200 species of birds that have been identified on a reference with half of them breeding. 90 species of butterflies and skippers the largest ive density bear population in the state of virginia and so various array of wildlife reptiles and amphibians. Of course. Its a wet environment. So a multitude of nature resources that were responsible for rare and engaged species as well. Quickly when we talk about habitat management of four Community Map it shows a Different Force types historically the swamp was dominated by Atlantic White cedar and bald cyprus. Its now dominated by a maple gunforce in the light of green, but we we have a habitat Management Plan. We have priority communities that were working to conserve restore and enhance. And how do we do that do it through the forest manipulation whether it is select. Login, you know timber harvest. Psychological restoration by slowing the drainage i didnt put the slide in here, but we have 150 miles of and roads. That we inherited as a reference the dramatically offers the hydrologic conditions of islam. Its drier it drains very fast. Now i wont go into those details where we are working towards and their hydrological restoration by slowing that drainage rewetting the swamp left the wet one do wetland again, which has the multitude benefits. We do a lot of forests and inventory and monitoring to determine to help of our florida software. And we do bird and other than that, you know animal services. Nana refuge for people the slot is as i mentioned earlier on its geographical position. Its always brought on the brave the adventurous the sheltered escape. Freedom seekers and other is this some highlights about that again . These are the Ancestral Lands of a mans union side and the heron tribe. That lived off the land moved on the land and moved off the land. George washington came and 1763 saw it as a glorious paradise, but also an Economic Team are logging the property the farming and also just the timber industry. Runaway slaves maroon towns live out here in islam around being a french word for mariners. And theyre out here on the high grounds. And this lower picture is dr. Dan sayers who was conducted. Believe 13 years. Ill give or take of Archaeological Research looking at these. These areas where these. Communities live in swan what assets what are the Cultural Assets we have we have historical markers. This is one here. Is this North Carolina state line market was taking along a road, but these these stone monuments are within a swamp. They were actually some of them were found during the wildfires that we had about 10 years ago while folks were out fighting. Well if i was in cds out along the state line, we have cemeteries on the property. We are very real loads that we dont even know. All where they are, but Hurricane Matthew in 2016 walks out one of these roads and exposed the railroad tracks, but then ended up in a you know, we had to assess those tracks before we prepare this road. The buried artifacts that have been collected by dr. Sears and catalog summer in museums for this display and some are hosted on site and as i mentioned the ancestor balance thats setting itself. With that on the research that dr. Dan says did and some of the history will refuse was designated part of the National Park Services National underground. Railroad network with freedom so we have an educational pavilion with some interpreting information taken from dr. Sarahs work and other documents and relative that we have and so were really proud of that that was in addition to the North Carolina state park, and we didnt want to know were all designated. I believe in what we know we will want to first refuges refugees in the country designated. Okay when i talk about public use again the public we need we need the public to understand the significance of solve have stewardship help support and promote kinds of leads and presentation of the song. So we have multiple public use access points. We have driving routes typing routes water routes and we get about 65 to 75,000 visitors a year. And so if the manage that moves and ensure that now this often times we have like looters and you want to find these old. Community science and take artifact. So again, its its a man. Its a man and management challenge for us. So, how do we bring all this together as the title of this webinar connecting Historic Preservation with Natural Resource foundation . The way i can sum it up is every day my staff and researchers are out on the refuge conducting fieldwork to meet the purpose. We have multiple users. Conducted while i conservation times just type and research or construction projects. Wed like to say were doing forest manipulation work. Were here have grounded students. Well, all of that is and very close coordination with our officialized service Historic Preservation officer that we have for the northeast region. We conduct Research Projects and try to do inventory where we can. The analyze the potential impacts to any of these projects. Um, we want to do some thinning out on the refuge and we submit a archaeological review to our historicalization. We cant state. Historic Preservation Office concurrence on Home Products that we have to do i said this was picture here. Study of the railroad where housing. Yes, that was at washout. And before we put a bunch of battle on it, or maybe even you know move the tracks we considered to use an education and of course we decided to leave them. Prepare the world so we get permanence all this into mitigation. Were necessary according to the National Business tour of graduation. Now, its actually 106. Thats the last line i have before and i do want to thank really saying thomas and elizabeth for the information that they provided about the Natural Heritage area, you know for us. The ref needs of federal agency. We are just the stakeholders in this effort. On i appreciate that background is with conforming everyone that this thats a heritage areas. Our Community Based are grown from the bottom up. This is the way it can save you and were just one stakeholder. Its not about the reference. Its about landscape. Were really excited to be a part of it. And lets put in apart for a great business slots stakeholders collaborate. Which is a group of stakeholders interested in the National Cultural significance of its life. That second law together by the willingness society has to facilitated during that group together. We need twice a year and against this great one to be of a larger stakeholder group. Thank you. Thanks so much, chris. Um, and now it is my pleasure to welcome nikki bass who is an asthma and tribal councilwoman and writer at descendants of the great dismal. His best descends from families of african indigenous and european origin who survived in and around of the Great Dismal Swamp and we are very pleased to have her with us today and to give us some more information about the history and cultural as well and her efforts to give a new voice to underrepresentative narratives through her own family story nikki welcome. Thank you. Can everyone see my slides . Okay, great. So id like to start by acknowledging and welcoming our chief earl bass assistant chief keith anderson, and also lee mitchell who joins us from the upper mattapani tribe. She is the Environmental Program manager and the three of them are members of our regional Tribal Community who worked to preserve both the environment history and culture. I have a slide here showing the logo for my website descendants of the great dismal and it captures a lot about my story. I am a descendant of indigenous africanamerican and european settlers in the United States. And as you see here, im featuring a woman and her body is blended into a cypress tree and she has a Migratory Bird in her hand and to me this represents. My familys connection to the environment. Our experience as Indigenous People being born of the land and water as well as our experience as people of color living through labor living through enslavement and then living through generations of staying local as well as migrating to other locations for opportunities. So i only have a little bit of time to share stories today, but i welcome everyone to read my site for more information. So going into our discussion of indigenous communities around the Great Dismal Swamp. Id like to start with a slide that ive actually im starting to use this a lot now if you look at the agenda it says virginia Indian History around the Great Dismal Swamp. I want to scratch that and actually scratch everything we traditionally see about communities around the swamp. Early maps like john smiths here in the background were made by outsiders looking in from a different Language Culture perspective of land water and property indigenous communities generally considered waterways the center of the tribal territory rather than a boundary. And land in between waterways was often shared for foraging fishing and hunting. So with that context it helps to understand why the swamp would have been and still is a shared space between several significant waterways for foraging fishing and hunting. It doesnt belong to virginia indians or North Carolina indians. Its an ancestral space that crosses over algonquian speaking communities like ours enhancement Indian Nation the show a note community chesapeake. Yopam or wapamiac and then also irocoin speakers like the nottoway. Maharan and tuscarora and this is mosleys 1733 map. You can look that you can access it online and zoom in and it helps you to see that for the nansemond Community Many are familiar with our settlements around the nanceman river, but we also had settlements on the maharan river the notary river. And our history crosses the boundary of the state line. This is true for other tribal communities and we want people to understand that as we develop the narrative and a vision for the swamp and the preservation of its history and culture. So looking at a timeline, well go back to the 1600s where many people start thats where our written records starts because our indigenous languages werent written. So most of our history is preserved orally and the documents that you have to learn start around the 1600s with the arrival of settlers and at that time colonists displaced many of the tribal communities from riverfront settlements toward the swamp. The colonists were had in agrarian lifestyle. They wanted good farmland. So the land that they wanted was not the land around the swamp and for Indigenous People. We move we moved in that direction because we had a history surviving this swamp. We were familiar with foraging and hunting there and we viewed it as a safe place as chris mentioned a refuge to preserve our lifestyle and community as we were being displaced. Throughout the 1700s tribes like ours the nansemond not away in the heron shared interpreters and aligned politically against colonial destroy encroachment. And Indigenous People also experienced enslavement and were subjected to a lot of the same oppressive laws that were developed to control all people of color. So i encourage anyone studying the history and culture of the Great Dismal Swamp to study the laws because the laws forced people into the structures that we we ended up in and by the 1800s many indigenous families were of mixed ancestry triracial and living in indios communities where there was strong intermarriage and preservation of our culture and traditions. And so i wanted to share this timeline because as i started out i am a descendant of all three of the groups that formed this story around the swamp, but i want to emphasize the importance of remembering life before enslavement as well as life after enslavement. Theres so much focus on the rich history around the maroon communities and the underground railroad and ill actually get into some examples of that within my own family, but its so critical to maintain a perspective of the whole story so that we dont limit the value of the swamp to one period of time i also want to emphasize again the inner tribal history the afro indigenous history. This is not a place where there were just Indigenous People living alone. Just you know, africanamericans living in the swamp alone or just european settlers living alone. This is a space where communities blended formed relationships and formed resilience together within the environment. And as we talk about envisioning a National Heritage area, i want to share the importance of having indigenous leadership in that effort earlier in a presentation. We talked about how National Heritage areas are places where historic cultural and Natural Resources combined to form cohesive natural nationally important landscapes all the indigenous communities in this area around the Great Dismal Swamp are living linkages between history culture and the environment. Ive identified some of the things that we preserve as part of our culture plants and wildlife many plants that were used as medicines. Traditional ecological knowledge cooking and culinary traditions our languages and storytelling theres incredible folklore around the Great Dismal Swamp that ive tried to capture and my website and theyre all so i brought them out here. I mean, there are books and books that you can get on the folklore of the swamp which includes a lot of indigenous folklore as well as you know stories shared by other hunters and people who brave the conditions within the swamp. So the storytelling is an extremely important. And again focusing on our songs our dances our regalia which incorporates parts of the Natural Environment and the intertribal relationships and trade routes around the swamp. And so another important reason to include the Indigenous Community is that we have decades of experience engaging the public and Cultural Community activities. Ive highlighted some images here things. Weve done we have created yeehawkins or these are a traditional homes for members of the public to see and walk through weve had reenactment spaces on our tribal ground, which is located at matlock town off of godwin boulevard on the northwestern border of the Great Dismal Swamp. Theres also an image here of our Traditional Church site at indiana United Methodist church, and that was also the location of the nanceman indian public school. Ive actually worked with preservation, virginia and mark wagner whos on the call here to nominate this site to the National Register of Historic Places, and were hopeful that in the future if we are able to warm and National Heritage area that we can put some of these sites on a trail for people to experience not just the the wilderness and Wonder Within the swamp but the the culture and experiences of communities that lived around the swamp and really lived in and out. And then i have an image there of a kayak launch that we have on our tribal ground. Were building a floating dock to help people have more water experiences. I also love kayaking on the Dismal Swamp Canal and then theres an image of our powwow weve had more than 30 years of our powwow it help people come and learn about our culture. So these are just some examples of existing activities that we have that could be built into a National Heritage area and elaborated upon for more community connection. And then just going to some examples within my family of stories that can be built up to help the public and community learn. This is a series of images about one of my ancestors named Romulus Sawyer and he was actually born enslaved in south mills on the set. Im southeastern border of the Great Dismal Swamp and he led 29 members of our family through the swamp in escape from their plantation to norfolk where he actually joined the union army fought in the civil war for his own freedom and the freedom of his family and ended up returning back to his Community Living next door to his former slave owner and forming a legacy of leadership. And that was such an inspiration within my family that we have. He was born in the early 1800s, but the second photo is romulus price another one of my ancestors named after him and then the third photo is my grandfathers brother romulus bass who is also named after him. So we have these incredible stories of survival of people who use the swamp to escape to freedom, but they didnt just disappear. I hear a lot of discussions about maroon communities and and i feel concerned that the story sort of stops there. I want everyone to understand that the story did not stop there the stories continue and there are families that have developed into symbols of leadership not just resilience, but leadership and accomplishment within our family. We have people who have become farmers teachers doctors astronauts. Its incredible to look at what type of you know people have grown out of this community. And i also have examples of stories in my family of people who escaped through the swamp and and built legacies and other states and these pictures you see some of our relatives who traveled through, ohio, indiana into michigan. Someone is first canada, and im not sure if its large enough to read here, but you can see in james basses obituary. He says that his family was born into slavery and escape through the underground railroad. So i want everyone to understand when you see these narratives about people escaping their stories continued and it would be wonderful to feature some of these examples of what life was like for those who stayed and what life was like for those who left. I also wanted to share some examples of nansemond subsistence in the Great Dismal Swamp. This picture includes chief earl basss grandfather and he was known as one of the greatest hunting guides in the region whenever any one of influence. Addition celebrities would come to the area they would seek out jesse bass as the daniel boone of the of virginia, North Carolina for support going through the swamp. I mean everyone wanted to go there to hunt but they didnt have the skills. He had to navigate through the waters through the trails and its its an incredible legacy. We have hundreds of photos of his excursions newspaper articles, just an incredibly rich history of that tradition. And i have the same tradition for my grandparents the the person and the third person over. There is my grandfathers brother kenny bass and this was a common tradition that they hunted they explore. They were very proud of their ability to survive. So we look forward to a future where we may have a National Heritage area and and resources to preserve and elevate these stories for more people to learn them. And then lastly one point that id like to emphasize and i touched on it in my when i shared my logo from my website, but its extremely important to develop underrepresented narratives like those of women who lived around the Great Dismal Swamp. I often see, you know, because men were the legal agents at that time. There was something called coverture where you had to be a man to own land unless you were a widow or an unmarried woman and a lot of the written record talks about mens lives. But as we explore personal families, we can tell the stories of women and talk about their experiences their strength how they dealt with the conditions living around the swamp and in our family one of our major arcs is our aunt blanny and she lives to be over a hundred years old and she was she was at that generation where she was born writing a buggy and had to learn how to drive a car or she lived her whole life. Road in south mills and she married her husband whos in the second photo there who also lived his whole life on that road and they they formed churches they lived through, you know, incredible experiences and actually the earlier picture. I shared of romulus price. He was blaines brother and he fought in world war i and had incredible experiences about being, you know, a soldier and a veteran through that period of time so i know i dont have a lot of time i could tell so many stories, but i just wanted to give a snapshot of several of my relatives who lived in the small and around the swamp, you know, our family land has always been described as swamp land so we werent living within the border of the refuge that chris did a great job of describing, but we were right there on the edge and you know in earlier times when the swamp was larger. Thats how it was described in our family deeds as swamp land. We lived on bass lake road, and there isnt a lake there. It was described as a lake because of how swampy it was. And another thing id like to share for my family is just i love to look at their sense of fashion and pride, you know, i dont want us to always think of people who descend from the swamp is being downtrodden and just hiding out from society. These are incredible people who had rich lives personalities and beautiful stories, so, i think everybody for listening and i look forward to being able to connect more as we go down this path. Thanks so much nikki for being with us and for sharing those points and stories and also for flagging some of those resources you held up and id like to also thank mark wagner for the resources. Hes put links to in the chat. Um and now id like to introduce eric Anthony Shepherd who will share some of more about the africanAmerican History of the dismal swamp. Mr. Shepherds the president and founder of mobita llc and Diversity Restoration Solutions Incorporated Business tourism in an International Project Development Firms that are located in williamsburg. Hes also the leader for the 2019 motherland homecoming project featuring projects planned for virginia and zambia and hes an author and family genealogy researcher. Well, thank you trip. Can you hear me . Okay, ive been having a little thank you struggling with attention technology a little bit. I can hear you, right . You know right now so we have some unique issues and i like to thank you. And of course sonya for inviting me and with preservation of virginia. Um, i like to if i could please i know i have to go very please have a much time. But i am a descendant of the grandy family out of camden North Carolina Camden County there and in doing my research, im originally from baltimore. I started tracing my roots of genealogy research. Back in 1996 right after the million man march and didnt know much about my fathers side of the family the shepherd side did that and then . Did the grandy side which my grandmother married to shepherd and her name was elnora grande and about 2001 i was down for the first time in chesapeake, virginia, and i was told by my fathers first cousin name was Clinton Sonny grandy. That the people our people came out of camden North Carolina went down there and visited and lo and behold as a result of that. When i got back to Baltimore Google a place called grandin, North Carolina up pops narrative of the life of moses grandy later slave in the United States of america that got me really involved. And engaged with his story, but he was also a waterman. That worked on the dismal swab canal and if you have an opportunity to read his slave narrative, which was published. In 1843. Hes very exhibitly some of the conditions of not only. People that were enslaved that that were on plantations, but also ancestors who hand dug and you know, you dont hear much about the contribution enslaved africans made with the dismal swamp and the canal itself. Thats a 22 mile stretch from elizabeth city, North Carolina up through deep creek that was handdug by ancestors and moses describes that very vividly in his narrative. The narrative is online and you the narrative is online, and you can google moses grandy and you canth read it if you havent had the opportunity to do so. But it gives you more insight to the human side of what was going on there in the swamp. And we talk about the terrorism. They were under tremendous our ancestors that hand dug the canal as moses described it, when they did not make quota some days they were tied up to a tree a and whipped, and made sue the insects got into the wounds that they had. Some of the enslaved ancestors had to take o care of those who were whipped, and some of them were whipped so bad that they died right there. That we say you know, we never read about the funeral procession going out of the swamp for our ancestors that died there. So to me that means their bones are still there and so thats a place that needs to be recognized not only for the contributions as you have milliondollar yachts going up and down the Dismal Swamp Canal now that dont know about the history of how that canal was even built. We need to ensure in my involvement with the Wilderness Society and thehe collaborative, adverse one of itsts founders, leaders with Alexa Alexander from the wilderness side at the time. We get this started and my goal is to make sure that Africanamerican Community is more aware of the significance of theor dismal swamp and we got this information a lot of it for me came through the moses grandy slave narrative along with doctor dan stacy was a good man, who is an archaeologist that supports the marin community, and their existence there. Those were our ancestors that escaped the dismal swamp, im sorry, not the dismal swamp. They escape the underground railroad and a set of communities and the swamp. I know they worked in associated with the native American Community and other whites as well, but ive been to zambia in africa which is right next door to angola. So a lot of them who built canals there in zambia and kind of conditions as the swamp. They preferred to be in the small and be free then be on a plantation. So they contributed and they brought a lot of knowledge to this United States and the area as well. And what i did back in 2004, because everywhere moses grandy with every bought his freedom, i went to and found more other graded relatives i also went to London England whove published e slave narratives in the 17, 1800s and presented them a plaque from the grandy family thanking them for their participation, support and help. To get out of bondage and a able to share their stories through the british and Foreign Antislavery Society at the time. Its now called antislavery international. They still exist because the work is not complete. There still abe lot of slaves around the world that needs to be dealt with, and so as we have dealt with it the other families that are dealing with the same thing even unto this day. And so the work continues to free people and to make people aware how this can happen. My First Experience of the dismal swamp, and i focusing this short presentation rather dismal swamp. The dismal swamp down and North Carolina of course were moses got bored andly got a lot of information not only about my ancestors and relatives in the place i never heard of prior called Camden County North Carolina in the dismal swamp. They also have exhibit stand on the North Carolina side very knowledgeable they were very welcoming and allowed people to get a full set of information not previously known to a lot of people about the cultures and the Human History of the land of the swamp and, of course, chris lowery from the National Wildlife refuge there in suffolk virginia does a tremendous job with this as well. And thats one of the exhibits of their. [inaudible] part of that story is well known as it should be but theres a lot of opportunity and should be a part of the National Heritage designation that more education and a more interaction with the Africanamerican Community and others, as they shouldvel been there and some of this history. Thats the Dismal Swamp Canal, and as i said it wasnt, to this degree of interest at the time around the canal, but it was hand dug, 22mile stretch of your there were no backhoes in those days, no heavy equipment as we know it. And moses grandy describes very vividly the conditions that they were under and they had to work. And so we just want to order and recognize those ancestors that made that contribution. And i believe doing my research that thewa Dismal Swamp Canal is the oldest continuous operating canal in the United States peer so its a lot of history right here in battle in North Carolina side but also up through deep creek in virginia up towards portsmouth. [inaudible] beautiful but that had not been acknowledged and recognized in some type of real memorial or recognition ancestors one of those things that need to be considered as part of the Movement Forward to make this a national designation, National Heritage site. Also you know, worked with congressman randy forbes at the time period were dating ourselves a little bit but moses grandy was given the honor of having a road named after him, moses grandy trail, and we were there. That was in 2006, january 20, to be exact. And it was one of the ways to recognize because moses had history shared with the rest of the world, moses grandy story and contribution in the area. And i will end with that because i know time is of the essence, it short and we dont want to keep people to log, but i think you for allowing me to come in and share this information thus far. Thank you so much, eric. And your connection held out almost the entire way. It was only fudge once or twice. Thank you so much for sharing that information. Speakers today and thanks to all of you for attending. Unfortunately. We have run that time a little over time, but we have put i see some more resources have been put in the chat and i think there were only one or two remaining questions. Well send an answer to those. And also want to let you know because one of the questions was about a recording of this the webinar has been recorded and will be available on presentation for genius website in the next few days. So, thanks again to all our wonderful speakers and to everyone for joining us. This to be using the qr code the screen to receive programs like lectures in history, presidency and more. Sign up for the American History tv newsletter today and watch American History tv every saturday or anytime online at cspan. Org history. The afterwards and q and a, wide range conversations with nonfiction authors and others thinking things. Nonplussed our weekly hourlong conversation about future authors of nonfiction books on a wide variety of topics. Publishing industry the entire interview to industry updates and bestsellers list. Find all of our podcasts downloading the free cspan matchup or wherever you get your podcast and on our website cspan. Org podcast