THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, April 12, 1995 TAG: 9504110157
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Coastal Journal
SOURCE: Mary Reid Barrow
LENGTH: Long : 101 lines
The Pocahontas Pancake House is living up to its name.
The popular breakfast spot on Atlantic Avenue now features a small Native American museum in a partial tepee with Indian arts and crafts on the wall. Customers who enter the restaurant from the parking lot are immersed in the atmosphere as they walk through the tepee before entering the main part of the restaurant.
The museum is one of several efforts by restaurant owner George Zervoudakis to give meaning to the restaurant's name. When he purchased the pancake house nine years ago, he and manager Betty Smallacombe realized that many customers were tourists who had come from other areas of the county. Visitors were curious about what the Pocahontas Pancake House was all about - besides pancakes.
``We got bombarded with questions about Pocahontas,'' Smallacombe said. ``The museum is a way to answer questions.''
Visitors' curiosity was piqued not only by the restaurant name but by the murals on the wall. The murals, painted back in 1975 by local artist James Johnson, depict early historical scenes such as the first landing at Cape Henry and the marriage of Pocahontas. Still no one in the restaurant could talk to diners in depth about Native Americans in Virginia until Smallacombe, Zervoudakis and Johnson decided about three years ago to do a little research and come up with more information for restaurant patrons.
Smallacombe began researching Pocahontas and is helping to develop a place mat. Johnson painted murals on the restaurant windows and added two colorful totem poles to the decor.
Then earlier this year, Johnson approached Donald ``Brightpath'' Kuhns, owner of American Heritage, a store in Green Run Shops that features Native American arts and crafts, with the idea of a museum. Kuhns and Tara Hawk, a Native American from the Cherokee and Apache tribes who works with him, went to work.
Kuhns was born on the Mattaponi reservation, west of Hampton Roads, and lived there for eight years and every summer thereafter until he went to college. His grandfather, chief of the Mattaponi Indian tribe, still lives on the reservation. The Mattaponi were members of the Powhatan Confederation, a large group of tribes headed by Chief Powhatan in the early 1600s. Pocahontas was Powhatan's daughter.
Kuhns learned all about tribal traditions and crafts of the Powhatan people from his grandfather and other relatives. Many objects in the restaurant museum are in keeping with the legends of the Powhatans, Kuhns said.
However, the tepee is one piece that is not authentic, he acknowledged. Powhatan Indians lived in long houses that were much larger than tepees. The rectangular structures were built of branches, lashed together and overlaid with animal skins.
``There is just not enough room here for a long house,'' Kuhns said.
The tepee is authentic to the West. Animal skins, handsewn by Kuhns and Hawk, are erected on rough hewn pine supports. Painted symbols such as handprints to show ownership decorate the surface.
A photo of Kuhns' grandfather, framed in rabbit skin, a handmade drum, a drinking gourd and corn and squash hung up to dry are among the articles on display inside the museum.
A beaver medicine stick, made from a hickory stick covered with elk skin with a beaver skull on the top end and and a bear skin tail on the other, is among the other artifacts. The beaver was an important symbol for healing because the agile animal could rebuild its home so quickly, Kuhns said.
``The medicine stick was one of the original Powhatan methods of making medicine,'' he added.
So far restaurant patrons have enjoyed the new addition, Smallacombe said. They are even considering putting a dining table in the tepee for which folks could make special reservations.
``We've had a lot of positive response,'' Smallacombe said. ``The children love it and ask lots of questions.''
P.S. A VETERANS HONOR POW WOW, sponsored by Pocahontas Pancake House and American Heritage among other groups, will take place from noon to dusk May 6, at Mount Trashmore. The free event will feature dancing, arts, crafts, music, food and storytelling. For more information, contact Tara Hawk at 471-7654.
WATCH FOR BALD EAGLES AND WILD TURKEYS on a hike in Westmoreland State Park with the Virginia Marine Science Museum from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. April 22. The park features beautiful forests and cliffs overlooking the Potomac River in Westmoreland County. The fee is $15 for museum members and $20 for non-members. Call 437-4949.
SPEAKING OF EAGLES, Dan Lass saw a red-tail hawk in hot pursuit of a young bald eagle at Norfolk International Airport last week. His story recalled the lone bald eagle that hung out around Lake Smith for several winters. Has anybody in that area noticed a 2- or 3-year-old eagle recently?
A FULL MOON SATURDAY night will welcome Easter morning. MEMO: What unusual nature have you seen this week? And what do you know about
Tidewater traditions and lore? Call me on INFOLINE, 640-5555. Enter
category 2290. Or, send a computer message to my Internet address:
mbarrow(AT)infi.net.
ILLUSTRATION: Photo by MARY REID BARROW
Donald ``Brightpath'' Kuhns and Tara Hawk, both of the American
Heritage, put together the tepee and American Indian artifacts that
now grace the inside of Pocahontas Pancake House on Atlantic
Avenue.
by CNB