NOTTOWAY INDIAN TRIBE OF VIRGINIA

The Nottoway Indian Tribe of Virginia, Incorporated is an organized Tribe of Nottoway Indians.  We live in the traditional territorial area of the historic Nottoway Tribe including, Southampton County into Surry County and the Tidewater region.  The governmental structure is democratic, based on an Iroquoian style of governance with a preeminent Tribal Council and ceremonial Chiefs. 

The Tribe submitted a petition for State Tribal Recognition to the Virginia Council on Indians (VCI) in October 2006.  The VCI is the Commonwealth’s statutorily established advisory body on Native American affairs.  During the past thirty months, the Tribe has been deemed by the VCI Recognition Committee to be an historic Tribe in Virginia and has had ten Nottoway family descendant lines publicly examined and confirmed.  These ten family lines represent all of the members of the Tribal Council.  This is the first time in Virginia’s history that any Tribal entity has undergone this level of detailed verification through a formal criteria recognition process.