Washington, DC, History for Kids: The Making of a Capital City

Washington, DC, History for Kids: The Making of a Capital City — page 9
Early Residents By the 1600s Native Americans had been liv ing in the area of the Chesapeake Bay and the Potomac River for almost 2,000 years Closest to present day Washington was a small Algon quin village called Nacochtank Tauxenant was a larger village near what is today Mount Vernon in Alexandria Virginia Other settle ments included Nameroughquena directly across the Potomac from DC in Virginia Assaomeck at the site of present-day Alex andria Namassingakent a little bit south of Alexandria and Moyaone across the Potomac from Tauxenant in Maryland Legend has it that Native Americans used the marshy valley below Capitol Hill as a fish ing ground in springtime Tribal councils were held at the principal settlement where the Al gonquin chief lived on the peninsula where the Potomac and Anacostia Rivers meet As with most places along the East Coast there was a continued influx of European set tlers in the area By the mid-18th century the vast majority of the Native Americans in the area had been forced to retreat to the west The First European Settlements The first European to explore the Washing ton DC area was Captain John Smith who arrived in June 1608 with 14 companions His party was the first to sail up the Patawomeke or Potomac River going as far as Little Falls about five miles north of present-day Wash ington He said that there was an abundance of fish lying so thicke with their heads above the water as for want of nets our barge driv ing amongst them we attempted to catch them with a frying pan but we found it a bad instru ment to catch fish with The crew fired bullets upon the water’s surface and the sound of the shots along with their echoes startled the Na tive Americans who were watching from the banks An English trader named Henry Fleet who explored the same area in the 1630s while look ing for furs said The place is without all ques tion the most healthful and pleasant place in all this country and most convenient for habita tion the air temperate in Summer and not vio lent in Winter It aboundeth with all manner of fish The Indians in one night commonly will catch thirty sturgeons in a place where the river is not over twelve fathoms broad And for deer buffaloes bears turkeys the woods do swarm with them and the soil is exceedingly fertile In the 1660s some Irish and Scottish settlers came to an area that is now part of DC and made a home there In 1663 Captain Robert Troop owned property in what is now southeastern Washington By that time the land known today as Capitol Hill was owned by Francis Pope and 2