Wassamasaw Tribe fosters culture on shrinking land

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The Wassamasaw Tribe of Varnertown Indians is a Native American group with centuries-old ties to Berkeley County. The tribe is made up of different tribes that were forced out of their native territory and populated portions of the county. The lineage can be traced to the area as far back as the mid-1700s. But as the tribe now works to nurture and maintain its culture and customs, history seems to repeat itself.

The land once settled is now expensive and being developed, forcing native descendants to consider where to go next as parcels of land, once swampy forests, are cleared and sold.

“We’ve had a lot of titles in the past, be it Summerville Indians or Varnertown Indians," said Joshua Shumak, vice chief of the Wassamasaw Tribe of Varnertown Indians. "We are considered a settlement tribe, which means we come from several different tribes that were pushed into the same area and settled together. The area we were pushed to was the Goose Creek area, Carnes Crossroads all the way up to the Wassamasaw Swamp.”

The first tribes arriving were from the coastal areas and grew from other tribes, including the Edisto, Catawba and Cherokee. They all combined and eventually settled in the area called Varnertown, named after the landowners, William and Mary Varner. The tribe is now carrying on its native practices and traditions, once forbidden in the state, to the younger generations.

“We have mostly culture classes and tribal crafts and other things like drumming and storytelling,” Shumak said. “We do a lot of stuff about preserving culture and teaching culture, because for a large part of the time in the south, practicing native culture wasn’t something you were allowed to do.”

There are about 2,000 in the community who are certified as local Wassamasaw. Shumak believes there are more because several people haven’t traced their lineage yet to confirm the link. The main problem now is keeping everyone together. Shumak believes it’s currently the biggest concern facing the tribe.

“The struggle is keeping the community a community during the rapid growth of South Carolina. The area of Carnes Crossroads is a desirable piece of land right now,” he said. “One of the reasons we were given that land and allowed to stay there is because it was barren land that no one wanted. Now you’re seeing the very opposite of that, and many of us can’t afford to stay.”

While they settled it first, the land here is not the tribe’s. The government did not deed it to them, as is the case with a reservation arrangement. Tribal members, if they want to remain a community, have to pay the going market value, which is not getting any cheaper.

“In South Carolina, the main reason there isn’t anything considered reservations is that reservations were only established in the mid-to late-1800s," Shumak said. "For most of the tribes in South Carolina, we had a presence and were already considered residents of the state."

The only reservation in the state is with the Catawba Tribe. Shumak said they were federally recognized and given land in the 1940s. Recent federal laws have allowed tribes an avenue to once again have land set aside, but Shumak said that will take a lot of time and money and the possibilities are currently being pursued.

“There are some states with reservation laws on the state level, our state isn’t one of them,” he said. “We got pushed from the coast inland, and now we are inland somewhere else, so we are just seeing that recycling of history.”

https://www.postandcourier.com/berkeley ... 82607.html