November is National American Indian Heritage Month. The Eno River Association joins in paying tribute to the rich ancestry and traditions of Native Americans. We have recently updated our Land Acknowledgment Statement as further commitment to practicing inclusion daily.
The Eno River Association respectfully acknowledges that the land that we are on today is the traditional and ancestral homelands of the Occaneechi Band of the Saponi, the Tutelo, the Shakori, the Cheraw, and the Eno. They descended from an ancient tribe called the Yesah and spoke dialects of the Siouan language. The Eno River Valley was their home as it was for Woodland Natives for thousands of years before the arrival of people from other continents. We recognize Indigenous peoples as the original stewards of this land.
The mission of the Eno River Association includes the protection of the natural, historical, and cultural resources of the Eno River Basin. That protection is mostly necessary due to colonial practices and an economic system of land use and ownership that has often degraded our environment and dispossessed many peoples of color in the Eno River Valley.
This acknowledgement is part of the education and practice of inclusion we seek to demonstrate to our community to recognize and respect the history of this land and this river, and all peoples and beings on the Eno through time.
