Editing Washington Grove, Maryland (section)

=== Indigenous people of Washington Grove environs ===
The land where the residential community of Washington Grove now stands, and all of Montgomery County, was traveled and inhabited by indigenous people from around 10,000 BCE. Members of the [[Massawomeck]], [[Susquehannock]], [[Seneca people|Senaca]] ([[Iroquois]]), and [[Piscataway people|Piscataway]]-[[Conoy tribe|Conoy]] tribes lived in the area, primarily using the land as crossover territory toward rock shelters, encampments and sizable villages near the [[Potomac River]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Tribes and Cultures |url=https://www.nps.gov/cajo/learn/historyculture/tribes-and-cultures.htm |access-date=April 20, 2021 |website=www.firstnationsseeker.ca}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=First Nations Across North America Map |url=https://www.firstnationsseeker.ca/Level3.html#anchor46875 |access-date=April 20, 2021 |website=www.nps.gov}}</ref> Tribal boundaries were fluid.

<!--The following detailed information is about indigenous cultures in the larger region and is out of scope for this article. Consider moving it to [[Native American tribes in Maryland]]:
12,000 years ago, an era colder than today’s climate, [[Paleo-Indian]] people moved together over the evergreen-covered landscape in small groups, adapting to changing seasons as they hunted bison, giant beavers, and mammoth using poles tipped with fluted points made from worked stone. Points have been found in the area where [[Seneca Creek (Potomac River tributary)|Seneca Creek]] flows into the Potomac River.<ref name=":0">''Native American Heritage Trail Guide''. ''Sugarloaf Regional Trails.org''. 2016.</ref><ref>"Walston, Mark (February 1986). "[https://mchdr.montgomeryhistory.org/xmlui/bitstream/handle/20.500.12366/269/mcs_v029_n1_1986_walston.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y Pre-contact Indians of Montgomery County]". ''The Montgomery County Story''. The Maryland County Historical Society. Vol. 29. No. 1.</ref><ref name=":1">"[https://apps.jefpat.maryland.gov/diagnostic/PrehistoricCeramics/prehistoryinMD.html Maryland's Prehistory]". ''Maryland Archeological Conservation Lab''. State of Maryland. 2002. Retrieved April 12, 2021.</ref>

About 9,000 years ago, the climate warmed and plants and animals similar to today’s species spread along the Potomac. Signs of human occupation can be found along the Potomac River near [[Dickerson, Maryland|Dickerson]] and other areas.<ref name=":0" />

Around 3,500 years ago, tribes settled more permanently, although they still moved seasonally across woodlands, streams, and rivers. Seed collecting led to agriculture, and pottery making began. A settlement near [[Potomac, Maryland]], dated from this period included burial sites for both humans and their dogs.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />

In the environs of Washington Grove is a [[steatite]] (soapstone) quarry site listed on the Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties, possibly dating from this [[Archaic period (North America)|late Archaic]] time period. The presence of flaked stone tools suggests that Native Americans conducted quarrying here prior to the site's use by local farmers and Washington Grove residents.<ref>"[https://washingtongrovemd.org/residents/our-history/wg-historic-district/ Washington Grove Historic District]". National Register nomination document. 2020. Retrieved April 12, 20221.</ref>

By 1300, indigenous people began to establish large settlements along the Potomac River, its islands, and uplands. They named the area ''Cohongoroota'', "The Land Above the Falls". The Piscataway people built longhouses {{convert|10|ft}} high and {{convert|20|ft}} long, with barrel-shaped roofs covered with bark or woven mats. Villages were surrounded by [[palisade]]s for protection, and outside were fields of maize, beans, squash, and leaf vegetables such as ''[[Chenopodium]]'' (goosefoot) and ''[[Amaranthus]]''. The bow and arrow were commonly used in hunting and warfare. A rock shelter in [[Gaithersburg]] near Seneca Creek (the Hargatt-King Rockshelter) contained a blue bead, suggesting contact with Europeans.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />

In 1608, [[John Smith (explorer)|John Smith]] identified 166 tribes, including the [[Algonquian languages|Algonquian]]-speaking tribes of the [[Powhatan]] group in Virginia, the Piscataway in [[southern Maryland]], and the Nachotank (Anacostia) near the [[Anacostia River]].  Montgomery County was ringed by non-Algonquian-speaking groups who were often hostile but were also trading partners:  the Iroquoian-speaking Susquehannocks near the mouth of the [[Susquehanna River]] at [[Chesapeake Bay]], and the Siouan-speaking Monocans and Mannohoac west of the [[Atlantic Seaboard Fall Line|fall line]] below the Potomac River. The Potomac River valley was a major corridor in and out of the region. The tribes most prevalent in the area of Montgomery County just prior to European arrival were the Piscataway Conoy and the Susquehannock.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dent |first=Richard |title=Chesapeake Prehistory |publisher=Plenum Press |year=1995 |location=New York}}</ref>

In the late 1600s, on Conoy Island near [[Point of Rocks, Maryland|Point of Rocks]], 150 Piscataway-Conoy people retreating from colonists' discrimination built houses in a palisaded village, speaking an Algonquian language now extinct. By 1700, most indigenous tribes had suffered rapid population decline due to infectious diseases and wars, and had been forced out by English colonists.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Welcome |url=https://native-land.ca/ |access-date=April 10, 2021 |website=Native-Land.ca |language=en}}</ref> By 1722 the tribe had lost two-thirds of their population.<ref>[[Piscataway Indian Nation and Tayac Territory]]</ref><ref name=":0" />

Fearing further encroachment and hostility, the Piscataway-Conoy people left the area, some moving into Pennsylvania and farther north. Today, descendants of the northern migrants live on the Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation reserve in Ontario'''.''' Some members moved to Virginia and a few families stayed in their traditional homeland in Maryland. The three groups are identified as the Piscataway Indian Nation and Tayca Territory, the Piscataway Conoy Confederacy and Sub-Tribes, and the Cedarville Band of Piscataway Indians.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Piscataway Conoy Tribe |url=http://www.piscatawayconoytribe.com/history |access-date=April 20, 2021}}</ref>

As of December 2017, three tribes are recognized by the State of Maryland, namely the [[Piscataway Indian Nation]], the [[Piscataway Conoy Tribe]], and the [[Accohannock Indian Tribe]].  None of the three tribes are federally recognized.<ref>{{Cite web |date=May 19, 2021 |title=Tribal Consultation |url=https://mht.maryland.gov/ |website=Maryland Historical Trust}}</ref>

As of the 2020 census, 40,000 Maryland residents self-identify as Native American.<ref>{{Cite web |date=April 22, 2021 |title=U.S. Census website |url=https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/MD |website=United States Census Bureau}}</ref>
...end off-topic section that belongs in [[Native American tribes in Maryland]]. -->