Chowan Discovery Group

November 2009: CDG Advisor Donna M. Wells passes.

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 I sought out Donna when I was shopping around for advice about the research I was collecting on the Winton Triangle. Her reputation as a respected archivist at Howard University’s Moorland- Springarn Research Center was long known to me. It was Donna who planted the idea of creating a non-profit organization. All along the way she encouraged me, was always interested in the work and continued to advise me. I’ll always be thankful for her friendship and help. – Marvin T. Jones

Photograph by Jeffrey Fearing

August 2009: Chowan Beach artifact donated to the Chowan Discovery Group

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 Cofield native Eric Mountain, now living in Raleigh, and his daughter Erin Madelyn, retrieves and brings back a relic from Hertford County’s past. The North Carolina Museum of History has donated a booth bench from Chowan Beach to the Chowan Discovery Group whose mission is to research, document, preserve and present the history of the Winton Triangle. Museum Curator Earl Ijames arranged the transfer. The bench was in the restaurant of the Chowan Beach resort which entertained people from the region for over fifty years. It appears in a 1963 photograph that is part of our digital image collection. The Chowan Discovery Group’s recent acquisition of non-profit and tax-exempt status helped make the transfer possible. Photograph by Marvin T. Jones

Roanoke-Chowan Mixed Race History Presented in W.VA

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Dr.Irene M. Wright of St. Louis, Missouri (second from right) is laughing with researchers of Roanoke-Chowan history, (l-r) K. Paul Johnson, Dr. Arwin D. Smallwood and Marvin T. Jones at the 13th Melungeon Heritage Association Reunion Conference in Logan, West Virginia, June 26-27. All four were speakers at the conference. Photo by Carol Joice-Jones

June 26-27, 2009: A lecture on the Winton Triangle by Marvin T. Jones was among the presentations at the 13th Reunion of The Melungeon Heritage Association held in Logan, West Virginia. K. Paul Johnson, author of Pell Mellers: Race and Memory in a Carolina Poquosin and a consultant to the Melungeon Heritage Association, invited Jones and Bertie County’s Dr. Arwin D. Smallwood, Associate Professor, The University of Memphis Department of History and a native of Bertie County’s Indian Woods community.

Dr. Smallwood presented an extensive and exciting history of the Tuscarora people who are among the ancestors of the Winton Triangle community. Both Jones and Smallwood have been invited to speak at next year’s MHA conference in Tennessee.

June 2009: We’re now Tax-Exempt!

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The Chowan Discovery Group, whose mission is to research, document, preserve and present the history of the Winton Triangle area, was recently granted tax-exempt status by the Internal Revenue Service. The law firm Morgan, Lewis and Bockius donated the services and expenses incurred in the filing of the non-profit and tax-exempt applications for the Chowan Discovery Group(CDG). Shown here, on the 39th floor of the Manhattan offices of Morgan, Lewis and Bockius are E. Laverne Jones (center), the CDG board member holding the tax-exempt application; and attorneys Robert Dickey (left) and Stephen Nesspoor of the law firm. Board Member Jones undertook this successful effort. Photograph by Marvin T. Jones