[Mark Tayac] My name is Chief Mark Tayac. I am the 29th generation of Hereditary Chiefs of the Piscataway People. We are the Indigenous people here to what is known today as the state of Maryland. For 15,000 years our people lived at the village of Moyaone. Today, when you look across from the village of Moyaone, you see George Washington’s home, Mount Vernon. My grandfather is buried almost directly across from Mount Vernon. It took a federal act of Congress; he was the first American Indian to be buried on federal parklands.

Every piece of art that’s here in the museum was done through the eyes of the artist. So when I looked at the Maryland side of the river, we may have small rolling hills, but in southern Maryland there is no mountain terrains. There is no mountains in Mount Vernon.

It’s a very beautiful river that gave life to our people. An abundancy of clams, oysters, fish. The woods being so inhabited with deer, squirrel, rabbits, an abundancy of ducks, geese, turkeys. So when I looked at that picture, I thought of our traditional homelands prior to George Washington.

Victor de Grailly
Date:
c. 1840-1850
Medium:
Oil on canvas
Size:
Width: 21 1/8″
Height: 15 7/8″

Bequest of Elise Agnus Daingerfield BMA 1944.101

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