Pettigrew State Park,
adjacent to Somerset Place in Creswell, and the Port O'Plymouth
Museum in Plymouth have artifacts and interesting presentations on
Native American history in the area. Pettigrew State Park consists
of 21,000 acres which includes Lake Phelps. There have been 30
Native American dugout canoes found in the lake. One of the canoes
is the second oldest in the United States, (2,400 years old), while
another is the longest, (36'), in the Southeast. The canoes are
believed to have been made by the Algonquian Indians. Other
artifacts include clay pots and arrowheads.
The Port O'Plymouth Museum has a replica of a dugout canoe as well
as pot shards and arrowheads representing 10,000 years of culture on
the Roanoke and Cashie River basins. Listen to our renowned
storyteller explain the fascinating history of the Moratoc,
(Algonquian), Tuscarora, (Iroquois), and Catawba (Sioux ) Indians
that were active in this area at one time.
Algonquian Dugout Canoes found at Lake Phelps