Pocomoke people

The Pocomoke people were an aboriginal nation whose territory encompassed the rivers: Pocomoke, Great Annemessex, Little Annemessex, and Manokin, the bays of Monie and Chincoteague, and the sounds of Pocomoke and Tangier.

Their numbers decreased during the 17th and 18th centuries due to the effects of diseases brought from Europe, massacres by Virginia colonists, and forced displacement from their territory by numerous land grants and patents to immigrants and transports. Beginning about 1742 some Pocomoke families moved northward, by way of the Susquehanna River and settled in present-day Pennsylvania and Canada, while others cohabited with the Assateague, Nanticoke and Choptanks near Indian River. Today's communities of the Pocomoke People are descendants of those who remained on the Lower Eastern Shore following the partial exodus of the Pocomokes in the eighteenth century.

The present organization calling itself the Pocomoke Indian Nation is a descendant community who hold a traditional and cultural kinship with the historic Pocomoke People. Its mission is to preserve the heritage and way of life of the Pocomoke Nation by teaching its young members Pocomoke traditions, skills, and language; and to educate the general public about the history and culture of the Pocomoke People through interpretive demonstrations in collaboration with schools, parks, and local events.