The Chiefest Town

At the confluence of the James and Rivana Rivers in Virginia sits a Monacan site. Monacan Chief Kenneth Branham walks us through the site of what was once the village of Rassawek, the epicenter of Monacan life before the Europeans arrived. And: Martin Gallivan, author of James River Chiefdoms and Jeffery L. Hantman, author of Monacan Millennium, say there is no doubt that Rassawek is the site of the former Monocan capital. Later in the show: For a decade, now, Amy Clark has been probing family land to make sense of ghost stories. A cemetery of enslaved people punctuates the family homestead. Now she’s troubling myths of Appalachia to make the ground talk. Plus: William Isom II is the director of Black in Appalachia. His work with Amy Clark led to his discovery in Tennessee of the grave of his great, great grandfather.