A day at the lake turned into a monumental event.
Two young swimmers discovered a rare Native American artifact and researchers hope it’ll be a key to uncovering the history of a local tribe in North Carolina.
This canoe, which was pulled from Lake Waccamaw, is a symbol of nearly 1,000 years of Native American culture in Southeastern North Carolina.
For Michael Jacobs, the Chief of the Waccamaw Siouan Tribe, it’s rare to find pieces of history like this one.
“That canoe at 28 feet long, would have carried many a brave,” Jacobs said. “We feel like in our heart, it’s a history that we’re still exploring and understanding because this is the first time we’ve had access.”
It was a discovery that was unexpected for Eli Hill, one of the teenagers who stumbled upon the canoe, while swimming in the lake two years ago.
“We were throwing mussels at each other and I stepped on it and I thought it was a log,” Hill said. “I tried to pick it open and it never came up. So, we kept digging at it and it just kept going. And then the next day, we came back and we started digging some more and it just kept going.”