Pagan River

The Pagan River (Warraskoyak) is a 12.5-mile-long (20.1 km)[1] tributary of the James River located in Isle of Wight County, Virginia. The historic town of Smithfield (and its National Register-listed Smithfield Historic District) sits on the banks of this river.

The name of the river may come from the Algonquin language word for pecan (Cree pakan, Ojibway pagan, Abenaki pagann) "that which is cracked with a tool" referring to the nut. When the area was explored in the early 1600s there were many pecan trees along the banks.[2]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data". U.S. Geological Survey. Retrieved April 1, 2011.
  2. ↑ Rouse, Parke (April 18, 1993). "How In The World Do You Say 'Opechancanough'?". Daily Press (Virginia). Retrieved August 28, 2014.