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April 20 to April 27

Virginia - The book tour will follow the imagined route of the Patawomeck Women from Fredericksburg through Richmond and Williamsburg to Hampton. 
In 1666, in their efforts to steal the land of the Patawomeck people in what is now Virginia, colonists massacred the men of the Patawomeck tribe and took the women and children as slaves, marching them to the coast to slave ships that would take most of them to their deaths in the brutal sugar fields of the Barbados. 

In the new book 1666: A Novel, author Lora Chilton, a member of the tribe, renders a fictionalized reimagining told from the point of view of the two women who escaped slavery in Barbados and make their way back to Virginia. Their escape and return is why the tribe is in existence today. 

To honor the women who suffered this ordeal and to pay tribute to the tribe’s ultimate survival in part because of these two courageous women, author Lora Chilton's book tour will follow this imagined route from Fredericksburg through Richmond and Williamsburg to Hampton in Virginia

Commemorative 1666 Day

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The 1666 book tour will launch on April 20 at the Patawomeck Museum and Cultural Center with the 1666 Commemorate Day event. Ceremonies and festivities will run from 11 to 3 and include demonstrations of the Patawomeck traditions and culture, interviews with elders, speeches from those who are introducing the new bill recognizing the tribe, a 1666 book talk and book signing with Chilton, plus access to the museum, and much more. 
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FOLLOW LORA'S 1666 BOOK TOUR:

Retrace the Route of the Patawomeck Women with Lora Chilton


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How the author came to tell this story

Lora tells a powerful story of discovering her own heritage and then uncovering this story that up until now has only been known within the tribe. At each event, Lora will share how she came to write this story, how she studied the Patawomeck language, interviewed the elders of her tribe who kept the story alive through oral tradition, as well as conducted her own research in order to create an authentic retelling. Read more about Lora Chilton


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1666: A Novel

BY LORA CHILTON

The survival story of the Patawomeck Tribe of Virginia has been remembered within the tribe for generations, but the massacre of Patawomeck men and the enslavement of women and children by land hungry colonists in 1666 has been mostly unknown outside of the tribe until now. Author Lora Chilton, a member of the tribe through the lineage of her father, has created this powerful fictional retelling of the survival of the tribe through the lives of three women.

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FOLLOW LORA'S 1666 BOOK TOUR:

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About Lora Chilton

A member of the Patawomeck Indian Tribe of Virginia, Lora Chilton tells the story of her people and their unlikely survival due to the courage of three Patawomeck women. As a part of the process, she interviewed tribal elders, researched colonial documents and studied the Patawomeck language. Chilton graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing. She has worked as a Registered Nurse, a small business owner, an elected official, a non-profit executive and a writer. Memphis is her home. 1666: A Novel is her second work of historical fiction.

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