Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, September 19, 1995 TAG: 9509190023
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BASTIAN LENGTH: Long
Five centuries ago, about 100 early American Indians built a village in this area of what would one day be called Bland County.
They found water, food and the raw materials to build homes and a protective palisade. They stayed about three years before moving on for reasons still unknown. They left behind various artifacts and - in graves - at least 14 of their number.
A farmer plowed up one of the graves in 1930, but hardly anyone took note of it. "A lot of people didn't even know that they'd discovered that thing," said Jim Lucas, a former county administrator who now is involved with a group that's planning a museum on the site.
The remains of the village were uncovered in 1970 in an excavation led by then-state archaeologist Howard MacCord. It was prompted by the construction of Interstate 77, which was going to pave over part of the area.
Besides the 14 burials, volunteer diggers located the bases for 13 house patterns measuring 15 feet to 23 feet in diameter, six small storage structures, two gatehouses, 30 storage pits and four cooking pits.
The artifacts were sent to the Virginia Department of Historic Resources in Richmond, and - but for Zareda Earnest and George Schaeffer - might have become a mere footnote to early Southwest Virginia history.
Earnest, who had been one of MacCord's volunteers, thought there might be tourism potential in the village. She mentioned it to Schaeffer when he knocked on her door during his successful campaign to be elected to the county board of supervisors.
Schaeffer became fascinated with the idea.
"He hasn't stopped since," Earnest said.
In 1990, Schaeffer became president of Bland County Development Corp., a local economic development group funded by the board of supervisors, the industrial development authority, local banks, businesses and private contributors. It bought 47 acres of land near Bastian, setting aside 24.5 acres to restore the village and build a museum and leaving the rest for an industrial park.
"The intent was to build a museum that would be free to the general public, and display the Indian artifacts that were found," said, Schaeffer, who believes tourism can be an economic development tool.
Backers of the project secured some grant funds, and contracted with Virginia Tech's Community Design Assistance Center to plan the project.
Eventually, funds will be sought from business and industry to support the project.
The village is now being rebuilt as it existed 500 years ago, with the wigwam homes and other facilities laid out just as MacCord's excavation indicated they should be.
The site is just east of U.S. 52 near I-77 Exit 58 at Bastian. The location had to be shifted slightly to accommodate the re-routing of part of nearby Wolf Creek for the I-77 construction.
Troops of Boy Scouts from Virginia and West Virginia spent a day in August cutting poplar saplings from the surrounding forest, just as the early Indians must have done, and placing them in holes mapped out from the original village but drilled more quickly by modern machines.
That first effort was under the direction of Josh Belcher, a Bland County Scout working for his Eagle Badge. Seventh-grade pupils from Scott Memorial School in Wytheville pulled similar duty this month.
Lucas said the goal is to open a "living history" village complete with guides. He said the emphasis will be on authenticity and education, although the hope is that it will be entertaining too.
Before the fall of 1996, there should be a museum to house artifacts from the site, an archaeology building and an amphitheater. A nature trail around all the facilities is also in the works.
"We're shooting for March to open this up," Lucas said of the village. "And the rest of it will be opened up as it's completed."
Foli Taylor of Bland will be in charge of the re-created village.
Tech's researchers reported in March, 1992, on what the village contained and what could be learned about it. The report was from Bill Galloway, an architectural instructor, and graduate students Brenda Landes and Chaya Frabhu.
The original village apparently covered a 130-by-140-foot area enclosed by a palisade with two entrances. It was occupied by some 100 people for a relatively short time - perhaps only three years - around 1500 A.D.
Nobody knows where the Indians came from, or where they went. MacCord said the artifacts were not of Shawnee or Cherokee origin, but may have been Siouan or Monhetan. He said one or two families arrived first and cleared the land for gardening before the rest of the tribe followed.
There was no evidence that an attack or lack of food caused the occupants to leave, although attack could have been imminent, he said. One idea is that the Bland Indians joined others at the Shannon site in Montgomery County. House forms, burial customs, pottery and arrowheads were found to be similar between the Bland and Montgomery groups.
The circular dwellings in the village were wigwams, with the frames believed to have been bent-over poplar saplings tied at their tops and covered with tree bark or animal skins. Wigwams differ from teepees, Schaeffer explained, in that teepees can be moved whereas wigwams are stationary.
Schaeffer went so far as to build structures identical to those identified in the study behind his house, to make sure he got them right before work started at the site itself.
About six months ago, while working alone at the site, he suffered a heart attack and barely managed to reach his vehicle and drive to medical help. Now, with bypass surgery behind him, he is helping to reconstruct the habitats, climbing ladders to tie the saplings together, and staying busy at the site.
"I think it was such a neat idea," Schaeffer said. "It's a lot of fun doing it."
by CNB