Last Friday’s attendance at the premiere of Cattashowrock Town on Old Bridge Road in Courtland is encouraging for the project’s future success.

Nearly 800, mostly elementary students, visited.

They met Native Americans seriously invested in recreating and presenting the history and culture of a people who were in Western Tidewater long before Europeans arrived.

Dressed in regalia, people such as Dan “Eagle Eye” England and Gloria “Happy Heart” El spoke knowledgeably about their ancestors and how they thrived.

As fellow presenter Stan “Spirit of the Rock” Piersa Jr. of Courtland put it so well, “I try to spread the knowledge.”

We see this as the mission of the project, which has been three years in the making.

Not only will features such as the Native Palisade Village ultimately become a tourist draw, more importantly they will serve to educate people.

Kudos to Cheroenhaka (Nottoway) Indian Tribe Chief Walt “Red Hawk” Brown and all who helped to make the project become real. We’re confident that support will continue to grow and serve.