Werowocomoco

More than 400 years before English settlers established Jamestown, Werowocomoco

[WAYR-uh-wah-KOH-muh-koh] was an important Powhatan Indian town. Werowocomoco, translated from the Virginia Algonquian language, means “place of leadership”. On today’s maps,
Werowocomoco can be found in Gloucester County, Virginia, on the north side of the York
River. As an archaeological site, Werowocomoco was confirmed in 2002, nearly 400 years after
the Indian leader paramount chief Powhatan and his people interacted with Jamestown settlers
here and at Jamestown. In 2005 and 2006, Werowocomoco was added to the Virginia
Landmarks Register and the National Register of Historic Places. In 2016, the site was sold to
the National Park Service, which is working to steward the land and its resources in cooperation
and consultation with Virginia Indian tribes to become Virginia’s next national park.