Tidewater Region

Painted relief map of the Tidewater region on the east coast of the United States in darkest green to one shade lighter green to the west.

"Tidewater" is a term for the north Atlantic Plain region of the United States. It is located east of the Atlantic Seaboard Fall Line and north of the Deep South. It encompasses the Chesapeake Bay and includes Delaware, the remainder of the Delmarva Peninsula, Southern Maryland and the Eastern Shore of Maryland, Washington, D.C., Eastern Virginia, and Eastern North Carolina.

Definition

Culturally, the Tidewater region usually refers most commonly to the low-lying plains of southeast Virginia (known as the coastal plains or Tidewater Virginia), northeastern North Carolina, southern Maryland and the Chesapeake Bay.

The cultural Tidewater region got its name from the effects of the changing tides on local rivers, sounds, and the ocean. The area has a centuries-old cultural heritage that sets the Tidewater region apart from the adjacent inland parts of the United States, especially with respect to its distinctive dialects of English, which are gradually disappearing, along with its islands and its receding shoreline.

History

Indigenous Populations

The majority of Native Americans who lived in the Tidewater region were Algonkian-speaking tribes who lived east to west from the fall line to the Chesapeake Bay and the Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds south of the Bay. From north to south, they inhabited the area from the Potomac River in Maryland to the Neuse River in North Carolina. Two tribes, the Accomac and the Accohanoc, also Algonkian-speaking, lived on the Eastern Shore. John Smith's map of the region, which has been deemed quite accurate in comparison to modern maps, shows about 200 villages with king's house symbols indicating tribal capitals. The Algonkian tribes in the Tidewater region were occasionally at war between themselves and with tribes to the north and west, and they were enemies with Siouan tribes west of the fall line in the Piedmont region. To the south were Iroquoian-speaking tribes.

The natives were hunters, gatherers, and fishers and were also dependent on corn (maize) as well as beans and squash which they grew in the rich soils of the region. By continuously growing corn, they were susceptible to crop failure. They fished and ate berries and nuts in the spring and summer, ate grown vegetables in the summer and fall, and hunted for deer turkey, squirrel, rabbit, etc. in the winter. Deer was used for clothing and tools as well as food. Each tribe had a chief, called werowances if male and werowansquas if female. Political power was inherited and passed down through the female line. The Powhatans lived in villages along rivers and banks in houses called yehakins. Yehakins were made from a framework of trees that were then covered in mats of bark or marsh reeds. Men hunted and fished while women farmed, made clothing, and cooked. Children learned these skills from adults and played. Tattoos of animals and nature were common and clothes were made from deerskin and woven grasses. Necklaces and earrings made from shells and pearls showed wealth.

The Virginia Algonquians (also known as the "Southeastern Algonkian") were part of the Powhatan Confederacy which originated around the James River and encompassed the Pamunkey and Mattaponi rivers to the north. Eventually, the confederacy included more than 30 Algonquian tribes east of the fall line including the Pumunkey, Nansemond, and Chickahomony, the three largest tribes in Virginia, as well as the Accomac and Accohanoc on the southern tip of the Eastern Shore. The original confederacy is estimated to have had around 1,750-1,850 members before expanding to have 8,000-9,000. 400 members were on the Eastern Shore and the rest lived on the mainland, a slight majority living in the Northern Neck and South of the James River whereas the more loyal and powerful tribes of the confederacy, like the Pumunkey, lived between the James and Rappahannock rivers where the confederacy originated. There are accounts of chiefs of tribes further away, like the Potomac and Accomac, defying the authority of Powhatan.

Powhatan, originally named Wahunsonacock, was the chief of the Powhatan Confederacy. He was also the father of Pocahontas. He grew his dominion through conquering many of the tribes that joined, including the Chesapeake, Kecoughtan, and Piankatank tribes according to Natives that interacted with the Jamestown colonists. Powhatan's relative (it's unknown if he is a brother, half-brother, or cousin), Opechancanough, was the tribal chief of the Pumunkey before succeeding Powhatan as the chief of the confederacy after his death.

Native and English Interaction

The Carolina Algonquians were the fist natives to come in contact with English settlers at the failed colony on Roanoke Island. During the start of English settlements in the region in the early 17th century, there was a shift in tribe locations, as many natives moved west or further south into current North Carolina to avoid colonists. After the establishment of the first English settlement at Jamestown in 1607, Powhatan moved from Werowocomoco on the York River westward to Orapaks on the Chickahomony River. Many tribes moved south in the 1630s and 1650s after the Indian Massacres of 1622 (also called the Powhatan Uprising of 1622) and 1644.

Opechancanough led these uprisings against the colonists starting on March 22, 1622 in which tribes in the Powhatan Confederacy surprise attacked and killed or kidnapped more approximately 347 settlers. Their tactic was to enter settlement homes friendly, as this was normalized now, before attacking. The Jamestown settlement was warned by a Christianized native the night before and escaped harm. These attacks rose tensions between the natives and the English and incited a ten-year long Anglo-Powhatan war, and on the same morning of the first uprising, the process resulting in Indian reservations began. Opechancanough led another uprising in 1644 which killed almost 500 colonists, but he was captured and killed in captivity. In 1675, fighting ensued between the English and Susquehannocks due to the English trying to push them out of the land in Virginia and Maryland. By the early 18th century, some natives adopted Christianity and English culture.

English Settlement

Roanoke Island

The first colony established by the English was on Roanoke Island in 1587 in the current Outer Banks of North Carolina. The colony consisted of men, women, and children sent by Sir Walter Ralegh, the leading Englishman in colonial establishments. The settlers explored the Pamlico and Albemarle sounds and rivers and documented new animal and plant species. Because of the infertile soil, the colonists resorted to taking food from neighboring natives which resulted in fighting. A month into the establishment, Governor John White left the island, promising to return in three month. However, he returned three year later in 1590 to find all the inhabitants and their houses gone and the letter "CRO" carved into a tree and the word "Croatoan" carved onto a post. Governor White speculated that they moved to the land occupied by the Croatoan tribe but couldn't search for them and returned to England.

Jamestown Settlement

In May of 1607, the first successful English colony was established on the James River in Jamestown. When the 104 men arrived, they found fertile soils, meadows, tall trees, and an abundance of fish, oysters, and crabs, and set out in search of gold. They built a chapel from wood which burned down in 1608 and was rebuilt to be the largest building in the settlement. The church was where John Ralph and Pocahontas were wed.

Few of the colonists knew artisan skills neccessary for survival. The colonists struggled with Malaria from the mosquitos that inhabited the swamps, other diseases like typhoid fever and dysentery, a lack of fresh water, winter famines, and strained relationships with the natives that they encountered. Within the first month of settlement, the Powhatans had attacked the colonists' fort before the Chief sent messengers to ask for friendship. However, interaction between the two groups were often unstable as they both traded with each other and fought. By the end of the first winter, only 38 of the original settlers had survived. in 1608, 200 more were sent to the colony. The colony struggled until tobacco became its economic driver and cash crop.

Albemarle Colony

The settlers continued to explore the Albemarle-Pamlico region and starting in 1653, they expanded their colony into this area. Most settlers who moved south to Carolina from Jamestown were Quakers seeking religious freedom. The settlers here changed the ecosystem by digging ditches and canals which drained the swampland, cutting down forests, building river dams, and attempting to drain lakes. They overtook the natives who lived there and farmed on the land, adopting the planting of maize as well as planting their own rice, wheat, and tobacco and raising livestock.

Maryland Colony

In 1634, the colony of St. Mary's was established near the Potomac River at the arrival of around 200 settlers. The colony was established to be refuge for English Catholics prosecuted by Protestants. However, most who came were Protestants, although there were also Catholics, Quakers, and Puritans. The religious diversity in the area merited the creation of the 1649 "Act Concerning Religion" that allowed free exercise of religion as long as the religion was a Christian denomination, although it did little to solve religious turmoil.

Colonial History

Indentured Servitude and Slavery

Before slavery, indentured servants were the predominant source of labor in Virginia and Maryland. English indentured servants exchanged four or seven years of free labor in return for passage to America and fifty acres of land after their release. Indentured servants in the 1700s tended to arrive from Ireland and came in families. Criminals from England were also sent in 1718.

Slavery was seen as more beneficial to planters because, unlike indentured servants, slaves were to work their whole lives and could not be freed and given parcels of land that could compete with owners. In 1619, the first Africans arrived at Jamestown by a Dutch ship. They had been baptized and could not be sold as slaves, but instead were sold as servants. By 1649, 300 Africans, a mix of slaves, indentured servants, and free, were living in Virginia. Africans went south to the Albemarle region in 1653 with other English settlers. By the 1660s, most Africans were either servants for life or slaves. During the 18th century, slavery significantly increased from 12,000 slaves in 1708 to 120,000 in 1756 in Virginia. Maryland and the Carolinas saw similar increases, with slaves outnumbering whites in South Carolina by 1708. The three types of slaves were skilled workers (carpenters, blacksmiths, tailors, etc.), house servants (cooks, maids, nurses), and field hands who worked in the tobacco fields.

Colonial Governments

In 1619, the Virginia Company of London authorized for every adult male in Virginia to elect a legislature called the House of Burgesses. In its first meeting, the House passed laws concerning Native American relations and conversion, agriculture, land and labor, religion, and morals. This was the first form of self-government that the colonists had.

Each colony also had its own governor, usually appointed or elected by the King of England and serving for a term of five years. The governor held essentially all power in the colony and could veto any acts passed by the House of Burgesses and was in charge of the colony's militia. The governor had a council of seven to twelve members that approved bills and served as the supreme court of the colony. Eventually, the House of Commons granted the assembly the power to makes their own rules, elect their own speaker, and control money.

Geography

Tidal wetlands of the Chesapeake Bay

Roanoke River National Wildlife Refuge as seen from Plymouth, North Carolina

The land in the tidewater region is generally flat and low, with large expanses near the tidal shorelines composed of tidal marsh and swamp. Much of the area is covered with pocosin and the higher areas are used for agricultural farmlands.

The salinity of water in the region gradually changes from freshwater inland to brackish and saltwater closer to the coast.

Geographical History

During the last ice age, although the region was not glaciated, the Atlantic sea level was significantly lower than today, resulting in more land on the coasts, hence many of the current North Carolina sounds and the Chesapeake Bay had not formed yet. Rather, what are now rivers like the Pamlico, James, and Susquehanna that flow into the Chesapeake Bay and the North Carolina sounds previously flowed directly into the Atlantic Ocean. The tidewater region developed when sea levels rose after the last ice age, resulting in the flooding of river valleys in the coastal plain. Such flooded river valleys now make up the tidewater as tides continue to affect water levels far inland, in some cases all the way west to the Fall Line.

Geographic Location and Boundaries

Geographically, in North Carolina and Virginia the Tidewater area is the land between the Suffolk Scarp and the Atlantic Ocean. In Maryland the Tidewater area is the flooded river areas below the Fall Line. Southern Maryland, the Eastern Shore, and Delaware round out the northern part of the region on the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays. In the case of Virginia, the Tidewater region includes the land east of the Fall Line, the natural border with the Piedmont Region. It includes Hampton Roads, the rest of the Virginia Peninsula, the Middle Peninsula, the Northern Neck, and the Eastern Shore.

The term tidewater may be correctly applied to all portions of any area, including Virginia, where the water level is affected by the tides (more specifically, where the water level rises when the tide comes in). In the case of Virginia, the Tidewater region includes the land east of the Fall Line and includes Hampton Roads, the rest of the Virginia Peninsula, the Middle Peninsula, the Northern Neck, and the Eastern Shore.

Climate

The tidewater region has a warm, subtropical climate with mild winters and hot, humid summers, allowing for a long growing season. The Chesapeake Bay affects the climate on the Eastern Shore and inland from its cool winds during the warm months. There is a moderate amount of rainfall throughout the year at about 44 inches in coastal Maryland and slightly more down towards Tidewater Virginia.

Economy

Shipbuilding and Maritime Industry

The tidewater region, specifically Virginia, dominates the U.S. the shipbuilding industry with the most shipbuilding jobs in the nation. In 2014, Virginia had 63,650 shipyard jobs, the most out of every state next to California which had 37,140. Virginia's maritime industry is responsible for over $5.5 billion of the state's economy annually. Domestic cargo transported via ships originating in Virginia as well as being shipped to Virginia totaled more than $9 million and $6 million tons, respectively. The top state to send maritime cargo to and receive it from Virginia is Maryland.

Politics

The Tidewater region has remained politically competitive since the 2010s, even as much of the rest of the Southern United States has aligned towards the Republican Party. It contains the states of Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina, as well as Washington, D.C.. The heavily Democratic Northeast megalopolis includes Maryland, Delaware, and Northern Virginia. The Eastern Shore of Maryland is strongly Republican.

As of 2024, Democrats hold the governorships of Delaware, Maryland, and North Carolina, while Republicans hold the Virginia governorship.

Regional accents

A distinctive non-rhotic accent of the Old South was spoken in the Tidewater coastal region of Virginia. Commonly known as a Tidewater accent, it is best associated with upper-class white speakers of the 19th and early 20th centuries. In the actual islands of the Chesapeake themselves, a separate rhotic accent survives among the locals.

See also

• Hampton Roads
• Inner Banks
• Southern Maryland
• Eastern Shore (Maryland)
• Eastern Shore (Virginia)

References

Notes

Bibliography

• Colin Woodard: American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures in North America. 2011. ISBN 978-0143122029