History Panel 1: The People to 1700
Falls Church History Panel 1: The People to 1700
Native Peoples and Their Land
For thousands of years, native peoples lived in the vicinity of Falls Church, including the Dogue, an Algonquin-speaking tribe near the Potomac River. They were aligned with the Powhatan Confederacy, whose chiefs included, at one time, Wahunsenacawh, father of Matoaka (Pocahontas). The people in this area grew corn, beans, squash, and tobacco, collected wild plants, and fished for sturgeon and other migratory species. They hunted deer, bison, bears, wild turkey, small game, and birds. They traded with other tribes and European settlers, traveling via waterways and connecting trails, the earliest routes that became integral to the region’s history.
European Colonists
By the late 1600s, increasing European settlements, hostility, and conflict drove the native peoples from their traditional lifestyle and lands. Some assimilated into these new European communities. Many, however, moved to land not yet overtaken by foreign settlers. The Europeans used the same water routes and the extensive trail system established by the native peoples as their primary means of travel, commerce, and settlement. The newcomers first settled near the larger rivers and creeks.
A log cabin with two large brick chimneys was likely built in Falls Church in 1699 by an independent farmer. Known as “Big Chimneys,” the house was the first known European structure in the area. It stood until the early 20th century near today’s Big Chimneys Park at Annandale Road and Maple Avenue.
Africans in Virginia
In August of 1619, a British ship sailing under a Dutch flag brought the first Africans to North America. Initially captured by Portuguese traders and held in Angola, the brutal treatment of twenty people from west central Africa continued when they were taken by British privateers, transported to what is now Hampton, Virginia, and condemned into the race-based slave system of the American colonies. The exploitation of Africans for the transatlantic slave trade continued for centuries. Early records document that both free men and women of color and enslaved people of African descent were part of the Village of Falls Church as early as the mid-1700s. These early African Americans were skilled in farming, weaving, metalwork, and other crafts, making them valuable contributors to the local economy.