Meherrin

The Meherrin Nation is one of eight state-recognized Nations of Native Americans in North Carolina. They reside in rural northeastern North Carolina, near the river of the same name on the Virginia-North Carolina border. They received formal state recognition in 1986. The Meherrin have an enrollment of 900+ people.

The Meherrin are part of the Iroquoian-language Native Americans. They are related to the Tuscarora, who were a neighboring tribe in historic times that migrated north to New York in the early 18th century, and the nations of the Iroquois Confederacy, historically based in New York. Originally inhabiting the Piedmont region of Virginia above the fall line, the Meherrin moved south into North Carolina in the early 18th century to evade encroachment by Anglo-American colonists. Linguistic evidence indicates that the Meherrin share common ancestry with the Tuscarora and Nottoway, and likely spoke the same language or a similar dialect. Common origins are also indicated in Tuscarora oral history.