Secotan (village)
Secotan was a notable Native American village located in present-day North Carolina, recognized for its historical significance through the accounts of the early English explorer and artist, John White. During his visit in July 1585, White captured images of Secotan, which highlighted its structure and daily life. The village consisted of eleven houses, communal cooking areas, and fields cultivated with crops such as corn, tobacco, and sunflowers. It was situated on the north shore of the Pamlico River and served as the westernmost settlement of the Wingandacoa territory, led by chief Wingina.
The community was not enclosed by a stockade, which was typical of some other villages, but was rather open and integrated with its natural surroundings. At the time of White's visit, the Secotan were engaged in conflict with their southern neighbors, the Pomouike. Despite various archaeological efforts over the years to pinpoint the exact location of Secotan, researchers have only confirmed one potential site on the north shore of the Pamlico River. The village's legacy endures through White's depictions, which remain some of the most reproduced images of Native American life from that era.
Secotan (village)
Category: Village
Date: Sixteenth century
Location: Probably North Carolina
Culture affected: Algonquian
Secotan is perhaps the most familiar of all American Indian villages. The village of Secotan (or Secoton) was immortalized by the English watercolorist and first governor of the English colony on the island of Roanoke, John White, who visited this Indian town on July 15 and 16, 1585, as part of Richard Grenville’s exploration of the Pamlico Sound. Many of White’s now famous watercolors of native life in the region of Roanoke Island are depictions of scenes from Secotan. Through the years, his painting of the village probably has been the most frequently reproduced depiction of any native subject.
The painting indicates that this Algonquian village consisted of eleven houses, several fields, charnel house, dance ground, paths, and communal fires and cooking areas. It was an open village, not enclosed by a stockade wall. Corn, tobacco, and sunflower were growing unmolested by wildlife, as the fields were watched over by a Native American on a stand. Secotan was the westernmost town of the Wingandacoa, or Secotan, whose leader was Wingina and whose territory was bounded by the Pamlico River and Albermarle Sound. The Secotan had been at war with their southern neighbors, the Pomouike of the Neuse River, just prior to the visitation by Richard Grenville.
Unfortunately, more is known about the spatial arrangement of activities inside the village, because of White’s painting, than is known about where the village was located. Several Englishmen mention the village during the era of the Roanoke voyages, giving a fairly good idea of its general position south of Roanoke Island and saying that it was the most southerly of their explorations.
The town itself was situated on the Pamlico River. A sketch map executed by an unknown artist in White’s party placed Secotan on the north shore. The White map of Walter Raleigh’s Virginia shows Secotan to be on the south side of the first large river south of Lake Mattamuskeet. David Quinn’s exhaustive study of the documents pertinent to the Roanoke voyages of 1584-1590 reconstructs Grenville’s journey to have taken the group up the Pamlico River past the Pungo River then right up Bath Creek, where they visited Cotan, back across the Pamlico and up Durham Creek to Secotan, which he would place at present-day Bonnerton, North Carolina. The possibility of “Cotan” and “Secotan” being the same village has been advanced in the past and should not be dismissed.
Several archaeological projects have attempted to locate the famous village along either shore of the Pamlico River, with almost every new researcher proposing a new location. Attempts were made in 1954, 1955, 1965, 1968, and 1980, although only in the latter two projects was the area targeted by Quinn searched. As a result of these projects, all candidates for the historic village have been eliminated with the exception of one on the north shore of the Pamlico River.