by Larry S. Chowning –
This is the second in a three-part series on how Pipe-In-Tree subdivision near Hartfield got its name along with some other ancient history about that area.
This story came from research by Rob Warner, who had help from owners of the current Pipe-In-Tree Farm, Ron and Eugenie Kauffman; Mary Ann Willis of Pipe-In-Tree subdivision; and Jeanette Pitcher of Oxford, Ala. Warner’s research takes the Pipe-In-Tree term back to the very beginning of the English settlement in Virginia when Native Americans and Captain John Smith may have smoked that first peace pipe, establishing a treaty site where Indian and English relationships would be negotiated for years.
Captain John Smith in 1608 made his famous exploration of the Chesapeake Bay. On Sept. 1, Smith and his group sailed and rowed into the Piankatank River all the way to Dragon Run. It was on this trip that Smith discovered the “Kings House,” a major Native American village situated a half-mile away from where the Pipe-In-Tree subdivision is located today.
This was home to the Piankatank Indians and Warner suspects that the Pipe-In-Tree legend was formed over the three days Smith was on the Piankatank. “Several times during exploration, he (Smith and his crew) was greeted with showers of arrows when approaching an Indian village. This could have been the legend’s brief conflict,” wrote Warner.
“While the chief was away (hunting), Smith could have made contact with other elders. Meeting a short distance from the village was possibly safer and more predictable for both parties. Perhaps most important, Smith wanted to secure peaceful trading rights for Indian corn, which would be very much needed for the upcoming winter. The English were not growing enough to survive at that. He was granted corn trading rights by the Piankatank Indians at the end of the encounter.”
After the meeting, Smith and elders smoked a peace pipe and may have established the site for future peaceful conversation. This peaceful moment was shortlived
as Warner writes. From 1642-1648, “the English eventually forced the Indians out and took their land. In 1642 tension between the groups rose as scattered English settlement started (on the Middle Peninsula and Northern Neck). In 1644 the second Indian massacre of English occurred, with 500 English killed. A treaty was signed in 1646 that gave the entire Northern Neck (and portions of the Middle Peninsula) to the Indians. This reservation was called the Chicacone Indian District.” Then after only two years the English forced the Indians out.
Warner speculates that somewhere between 1608 and 1648 during treaty negotiations a peace pipe was placed in the tree — thus the origin of the name.
Once English settlement took over, the Pipe-In-Tree land became part of Shooters Hill, a 1,274-acre plantation owned by Augustine Smith. Five-hundred-and ninety-six acres was cut out of Shooters Hill to make Pipe-In-Tree Farm. Today, the farm is surrounded by just 40 original acres.
It Happened Right Here in Rivah Country!
