The Land and Its People
The places we walk are not empty.
Why This Page Exists
We’re a small guide service, not historians or members of any Indigenous nation whose homelands we hike. What we are is guests on land that has been named, traveled, and storied for thousands of years before us. This page is our attempt to acknowledge that, and to point you toward voices better placed to tell these stories than we are.
Appalachia
The mountains and river valleys of southern West Virginia are the ancestral homelands of Indigenous nations who lived along the New River and across these ranges for thousands of years before European contact.
Whose Homelands
Among the peoples with deep ties to the New River region and the southern Appalachians:
- Moneton, who lived in villages along the New River, documented by colonial accounts in the 1670s.
- Shawnee, who used the New River corridor as a major travel and hunting route.
- S’atsoyaha (Yuchi), with long-standing presence across the broader region.
- Tutelo, Siouan-speaking people of southwestern Virginia and West Virginia.
- Cherokee, whose northern hunting grounds extended into this region.
- Mingo, formed from displaced peoples in the colonial period.
The New River
The New River is older than the Appalachian Mountains themselves, one of the oldest rivers on Earth. Long before European maps, it was a corridor between peoples on both sides of the range, used for trade, seasonal travel, and gathering.
Mound-Building Cultures
Long before the historic tribes named above, the Adena and later Hopewell cultures built earthworks across what is now West Virginia. The Grave Creek Mound in Moundsville is one of the largest conical burial mounds in the Americas, dating to roughly 250–150 BCE.
Read More: Appalachia
- e-WV: Native Americans. The West Virginia Encyclopedia, published by the West Virginia Humanities Council, with entries on the Moneton, Shawnee, and other peoples of the region.
- National Park Service: New River Gorge History & Culture. The official NPS pages on the gorge’s cultural history.
- Grave Creek Mound Archaeological Complex. West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History; the site museum interprets the Adena culture and mound construction.
- Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. The official tribal government of the Eastern Band.
- Shawnee Tribe. The official site of the Shawnee Tribe, federally recognized and headquartered in Oklahoma.
- Euchee (Yuchi) Language Project. Community-led work on Yuchi language and culture.
- Native Land Digital. An interactive map of Indigenous territories, languages, and treaties; useful starting point for any location in North America.
Southeast Alaska
Every trail we walk in Southeast Alaska is on Tlingit Aaní, Tlingit homeland. The Tlingit have lived here for at least 10,000 years, and the region remains their land.
Tlingit Aaní
The Juneau area sits at the intersection of two Tlingit kwáan (tribal groups):
- Áak’w Ḵwáan, whose territory includes Auke Bay and the Mendenhall area.
- T’aaḵú Ḵwáan, of the Taku River, south and east of Juneau.
The Haida and Tsimshian also have deep ties to the broader Southeast.
Place Names
Many of the places we visit carry Tlingit names. The Tongass takes its name from the Taant’a Ḵwáan, the Tlingit people of the southern Southeast. Admiralty Island is Xutsnoowú, or Kootznoowoo, meaning “Fortress of the Bears,” for the brown bears that thrive there. Streams and ridges across the area carry names from the Tlingit language, some still in use, some translated, some lost.
Living Culture
Tlingit culture is not a thing of the past. The clan system, traditional foods, language revitalization, art, dance, and ceremony are all alive and ongoing in Juneau and throughout the Southeast today. The best way to learn is to visit Tlingit-led cultural spaces and listen.
Read More: Southeast Alaska
- Sealaska Heritage Institute. The regional non-profit dedicated to perpetuating and enhancing Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian cultures of Southeast Alaska. Their Walter Soboleff Building in downtown Juneau is open to visitors.
- Central Council of the Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska. The federally recognized tribal government representing more than 37,000 Tlingit and Haida citizens.
- Áak’w Ḵwáan. The local tribe of the Juneau area, with information on their territory, history, and ongoing work.
- Alaska Native Knowledge Network. University of Alaska Fairbanks resource on Indigenous knowledge systems across Alaska.
- Tongass National Forest: History & Culture. The U.S. Forest Service’s pages on the cultural and natural history of the Tongass.
- UAS Alaska Native Languages. University of Alaska Southeast resources on Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian languages.
- Native Land Digital. An interactive map of Indigenous territories, languages, and treaties.
How We Try to Show Up
Listen First
When Indigenous voices are speaking (at museums, cultural centers, or on the trail), we follow their lead. We don’t speak over them, and we don’t claim to speak for them.
Use Real Names
Where Tlingit or other Indigenous names exist for a place, we try to learn and use them, even imperfectly. Pronunciation matters; effort matters more.
Send Guests to the Source
We don’t teach Indigenous culture. We point guests toward Indigenous-led museums, cultural centers, and businesses where the story is told by the people who live it.
Tread Lightly
Leave No Trace applies to cultural sites too. We don’t disturb structures, artifacts, or sacred areas, and we respect closures and access rules.
We get things wrong. If you spot an error on this page (a misspelling, a misattribution, missing context), please tell us so we can fix it.