Join Historic St. Mary’s City (HSMC) for this annual event, filled with ongoing demonstrations highlighting traditional methods in hide tanning, pottery, and cooking. Among the day’s highlights, attendees can look forward to a 1:30 p.m. performance by Mark Tayac and the Piscataway Indian Nation Singers & Dancers. Coming from Tayac Territory (Port Tobacco, MD), they will present a colorful, educational, and entertaining pow-wow-style event that features American Indian Dance, Drum, and song. 

Also featured is Algonkian living historian Drew Shuptar-Rayvis, who will present “Eight Coats, Seven Shirts, Fifteen Fathom Wampum: Early Colonial Settlement and the First Deeds.” From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Drew will host ongoing demonstrations and discussions exploring the complex relationships between Indigenous communities and European settlers, including the importance of wampum, land usage, and the impact of early colonial conflicts.

Schedule

11:30 a.m. / 2:30 p.m.  Atlatl Throwing

1:30 p.m. Mark Tayac and the Piscataway Indian Nation Singers & Dancers

3:00 p.m. Pottery

Ongoing Demonstrations and Activities

• Hide Tanning (10 a.m. to 3 p.m.): See how animal skins were preserved and transformed into clothing (visitor discretion advised).

• Canoe Burning: Watch as fire and stone tools are used to carve a dugout canoe.

• Cordage Making: Twist plant fibers into strong string using age-old techniques.

• Woodland Games: corn cob darts

• Flint Knapping:  Work with Nate Salzman of Jefferson Patterson Park & Museum to shape stone into sharp-edged tools.
• Bone Tool Making: Explore how bone can be shaped, carved, and polished to create useful tools from natural materials. Led by Oliver Simon from Jefferson Patterson Park & Museum.

Indigenous Heritage Day will take place outdoors, rain or shine

Admission for the day will be available for purchase at the HSMC Visitor Center (18751 Hogaboom Lane, St. Mary’s City, Md 20686)

$15 adult; $13 senior; $10 children & students; free to ages 5 and younger. Free to museum members.

(Performance by the Piscataway Indian Nation Singers and Dancers at Indigenous Heritage Day, 2024)