Nause-Waiwash Tribe (Nanticoke)
This group of about 300 people are descendants of the original Nanticoke and Choptank Indians, whose home was, and still is the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Their name, Nause-Waiwash (NawS way-Wash), is a reference to two Nanticoke ancestral villages.
Based in Dorchester County, Maryland, the Nause-Waiwash are the remnants of what Europeans call Nanticoke and Choptank tribes who fled into the marshes in the 1700s. These names (Nanticoke and Choptank) are the names of two major rivers in the area, which are tributaries of the majestic Chesapeake Bay.
These Native Americans, or “Indians,” were first encountered by the famous Captain John Smith during his exploration of the Chesapeake Bay in 1609, and are well documented in his writings and history books everywhere.
“We know we’re here. We’ve never left.” . . . “We want the state of Maryland and all to acknowledge they didn’t kill us all, that some of us managed to survive.”
-Chief Sewell Winter Hawk Fitzhugh