Kikotan Cultural Preservation

Preserving the Past. Honoring the Ancestors.

Teaching the Seven Generations.

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Kikotan Cultural Preservation is dedicated to preserving, documenting, and sharing the history, genealogy, stories, and cultural memory of the Kikotan people of Virginia and the families whose lives are connected to that history.

For generations, much of Kikotan history has been scattered across colonial records, land documents, court records, family histories, oral traditions, and the changing names and racial classifications recorded by government officials.

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Cultural preservation brings these pieces together so that the people behind the records are remembered as people—not simply as names on a page.

Our work begins with the ancestral homeland of the Kikotan people in the region historically known as Kecoughtan, along the waterways of what is now Hampton, Virginia, and the Chesapeake Bay.

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But preservation is about more than looking backward.

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Remembering the People

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We seek to recover and preserve the names and experiences of the people who came before us—the leaders, families, women, men, and children whose lives formed part of the Kikotan story.

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Genealogy is an important part of this work. By examining historical documents and reconstructing family connections, we can help descendants better understand how their families fit within the larger history of Virginia and the Chesapeake region.

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Preserving the Stories

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History can disappear when stories are not recorded.

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Through historical research, genealogy, books, educational materials, photographs, family records, digital archives, and storytelling, Kikotan Cultural Preservation works to make this history accessible to descendants and future generations.

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We also recognize that historical records do not always tell the complete story. Names changed. Communities were displaced. Families moved. Government classifications changed how Native people were identified in official documents.

That is why preservation requires careful research, documentation, and respect for what the historical evidence can—and cannot—tell us.

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Connecting the Generations

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Cultural preservation is not only about our ancestors.

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It is about our children, grandchildren, and those who will come long after us.

We believe each generation has a responsibility to carry knowledge forward so that the next generation does not have to begin its search from nothing.

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When we preserve a photograph, document a family line, record an elder's story, identify an ancestral place, or teach a child the history of those who came before them, we strengthen the connection between generations.

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For the Seven Generations

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Our ancestors left traces of their lives for us to discover.

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Our responsibility is to preserve what we find, tell their stories with care, and leave a clearer path for those who come after us.

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Remember Their Names. Preserve Their Stories. Teach the Next Generation.

Kikotan Cultural Preservation
For the Seven Generations