PAMUNKEY INDIAN RESERVATION - Living on a Virginia Indian reservation can mean a very long commute to work.

William Miles, chief of the Pamunkey, made that point yesterday as he described the pleasures and hardships of reservation life in modern times. He spoke to about 70 scholars, officials and other participants on a daylong tour of tribal centers including the state’s two Indian reservations.

The tour made up the second day of “Virginia Indians: 400 Years of Survival,“ a three-day conference created as a signature event in the 18-month commemoration of Jamestown’s establishment in 1607 as the first permanent English settlement in America.

As he discussed fishing, hunting and family life on the 1,200-acre reservation beside the Pamunkey River in King William County, Miles said a location far from most city jobs has meant that many tribe members have traditionally waited until after retirement to move into the community of about 30 families.

Miles commutes an hour each way to his job as director of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Richmond office. He said the long drive is a small price to pay for the privilege of preserving his people’s traditions and their presence on a reservation created by treaties dating to 1647 and 1677.

Miles, whose Indian name is Swift Water, wears his gray-at-the-temples hair in an executive-style haircut typical of the modern work world.

He said the lives of many modern Indians in Virginia reflect a similar combination of assimilation into modern life with a fierce desire to maintain traditional identity and even rediscover traditions, ceremonies and links to heritage that have been lost over the centuries.

Both the Pamunkey reservation and the 150-acre Mattaponi reservation, a few miles away along the Mattaponi River, look much like other rural communities in which residences range from neat manufactured homes to grander brick and frame structures.

There are museums on both reservations, displaying historical and archaeological artifacts and the handiwork of current potters, jewelers and, on the Mattaponi reservation, musical-instrument makers.

Both reservations also have fish hatcheries, where for three months each spring members work to replenish the stocks of migratory shad that both tribes harvest by setting nets.

“We have a very strong feeling of giving back,“ Miles said, “and not just taking.“

Barbara Schmidt, a retired history teacher from Baltimore, said she registered for the conference and tours because she is interested in history and has a daughter who represents Indian tribes as a lawyer in Washington.

“I was curious,“ Schmidt said. “I’ve gotten a lot from this.“

The conference began in Williamsburg Thursday with speakers and panel discussions addressing Indian history and cultures and laws and government policies that have affected them.

Yesterday’s tour included visits to the Upper Mattaponi Tribal Center and Rappahannock Tribal Center in King William and the Chickahominy Tribal Center in Charles City County.

Virginia has eight state-recognized tribes. The tour visited the eastern tribal lands that have buildings, said Karenne Wood, a member of the Monacan tribe who is chairwoman of the state government’s Virginia Council on Indians.

The two eastern tribes that currently don’t have buildings in use are the Nansemond tribe in the Suffolk/Chesapeake area, and the Chickahominy Indians Eastern Division in New Kent County, Wood said.

The conference was to continue today with a tour to the Monacan Indian Nation’s annual homecoming in Amherst County.

Andrew Petkofsky is a staff writer for the Richmond Times-Dispatch. He can be contacted at or (757) 229-1512.