Nause-Waiwash Tribe (Nanticoke)
This group of about 300 people are descendants of the original Nanticoke Indians, whose home was, and still is the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Their name, Nause-Waiwash (nah-soo 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, Choptank and Pocomoke tribes who fled into the marshes in the 1700s. These three names (Nanticoke, Choptank and Pocomoke) are the names of the three major rivers in the area, which are tributaries of the majestic Chesapeake Bay.
These “Indians” or Native Americans were first “discovered” 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