Cuscarawaoc Tribe
The Cuscarawaoc Indians, a division of the Nanticoke, were documented by Captain John Smith in 1608 as residing near the Nanticoke River in Maryland and Delaware, with an estimated population of 800. Their language set them apart from neighboring tribes such as the Powhatan and Conestoga. Historian Heckewelder supported their classification as a Nanticoke division, a view substantiated by Bozman’s research in the 19th century. The tribe’s name translates to “place of making white beads.”