Location: Corner of hwy 49N and High Plains Rd.
County: Person
Original Date Cast: 2023
The High Plains Indian Settlement along the North Carolina-Virginia boundary is the traditional Sappony homeland. The Sappony have inhabited the rolling hills of Person County, NC and Halifax County, VA since the early 1700's, settling there before state lines were drawn. In fact, they helped draw the boundary line between the states in 1728 when Sappony Ned Bearskin led William Byrd’s surveying party through the region.
The Sappony consist of seven main family clans: Coleman, Epps, Johnson, Martin, Shepherd, Stewart/Stuart and Talley. The Sappony were state recognized in North Carolina in 1911. In 1997, they were seated in North Carolina Commission of Indian Affairs. In 2003, they officially changed their name from the state-designated label of ‘Indians of Person County’ to ‘Sappony’, a more accurate reflection of their history and descent.
The Indian church has always been the center of the High Plains Indian Settlement, and faith has been the cornerstone of their resilience. From the Epps Meeting House to Christ Church at Mayo Chapel to their current Calvary Baptist Church, each consecutive church in the Sappony community has provided a place to meet, worship, maintain social ties and tribal autonomy.
The first Sappony Indian school began as one room in the church in Halifax County, Virginia in 1878. From then until 1911, the Sappony built and funded several schools in both North Carolina and Virginia, as they outgrew each. In 1911, they built and funded the High Plains Indian School in its final location in Person County, North Carolina after receiving legislative recognition from the state of North Carolina. Virginia state funding followed in 1913, since Sappony students who lived on both the Person County, North Carolina side of the state border and on the Halifax County, Virginia side attended the school. The states paid the teachers’ salaries; the community was required to build the school. The Sappony had an Indian District School Board made up of Sappony members and a Parent Teacher Association. The High Plains Indian School eventually had clubs, a student-run newspaper, and classes for all grades through high school, before closing in 1962. Sappony students were then integrated into other local schools. High Plains Indian School, in addition to the church, was a source of social connection, interaction, and ties for the Sappony community.
The tribe continues their traditional governing structure. A Council consists of one elected representative from each of the seven family clans. An Executive Committee includes a Tribal Chief, Tribal Chairperson, Executive Director, Secretary, and Financial Officer. The Executive Committee helps with the daily business of the tribe. Committees are established by the Council to address specific community concerns such as education, cultural preservation, membership, public outreach, and economic development.
Throughout hundreds of years of transition, Sappony people have maintained tribal and family clan bonds through commitment to community and family. Many Sappony who remained in the High Plains Indian Settlement have maintained family homes and farmlands, although they hold jobs in a wide variety of contemporary fields. Relatives who have moved from the area continue to return for annual events, such as the Sappony Heritage Youth Camp, the 5k Trail Run, a quilting bee, and Homecoming, the largest gathering of the year.
Sappony history is one of family connection and interdependence, hard work, faith, adaptability, and loyalty. It is the history of a people whose lives changed with the changing of times – from hunters and farmers of pre-contact days to trading partners with the English during colonial times, and from tenant and landed farmers throughout the 1800s and 1900s to today’s contemporary Indian people in a diversified world.