The Native American presence here dates back a minimum of 11,000 years — more than twenty-five times as long as the European presence in Maryland!
The Piscataway homeland was first mapped by Captain John Smith in 1608. The Piscataway chiefdom encompassed most of what is now Southern Maryland, including under the Piscataway umbrella semi-independent nations ranging from Yeocomico near the mouth of the Potomac River to the Tauxenents near modern-day Washington, DC.
By the fourteenth century, the Piscataways were governed by a hereditary chief, or Tayac, who collected and redistributed tribute, mediated between humans and the spiritual world, and coordinated war and diplomacy.
For Piscataways, this land is the burying place of countless ancestors, the place where the fundamentals of Piscataway society and culture were forged. It is the heart of the largest of the colonial-era reservations and the location of Moyaone, a substantial town that was the political center of the Piscataway chiefdom.
The Piscataway value system, while the product of history, is forward-looking. Among the most important of these values are generosity, sharing, and reciprocity in all relationships; respect for all living things; and careful stewardship of the natural environment.
These values emerged out of the experience of living for so long in this place, and they all point toward the importance of paving the way for future generations. Thus, Piscataway Park is to this day the spiritual center of the Piscataway world, and it will remain so in the future.
