Tribe Behind Norfolk Casino Fights to Protect Chief Powhatan’s Virginia Birthplace

The Native American tribe behind the Norfolk casino development is using its political clout in Virginia to protect the land where Chief Powhatan was born nearly 500 years ago.

The Pamunkey Indian Tribe only gained federal recognition in 2015, but the small tribal community based in King William County is widely recognized as one of the oldest and most historically significant Native American groups in the United States.

The tribe is amid construction of a $750 million casino resort on the Elizabeth River adjacent to Norfolk’s Harbor Park Minor League Baseball stadium, with the destination expected to open its first phase in late 2027.

The Pamunkey people claim to have inhabited the region east of Richmond for 13,000 years and were a core component of the powerful Powhatan Chiefdom.

Chief Powhatan was born on Tree Hill Farm, a more than 500-acre property overlooking downtown Richmond in Eastern Henrico County.

The rolling landscape of farmland and woods is being targeted for a mixed-use development by BGRE. Formerly Brookfield Properties, BGRE is the real estate development arm of Brookfield Asset Management, one of the world’s largest alternative investment management companies with more than $1 trillion in assets under management.

Tribal leaders are seeking to protect Tree Hill Farm, saying it’s sacred land.

It would be like building a mall at the bottom of the Grand Canyon.”

Pamunkey Tribal Chief Kevin Brown

“They [BGRE] need to sit down with us and we need to stop this development right now and rethink the whole idea,” Brown continued in remarks to WTVR Richmond. “Once it is destroyed, it is gone forever.”

BGRE says the company is dedicated to honoring and respecting the land’s history, with 6.5 acres in the blueprint set aside for a “Native American commemorative site.”

BGRE said in a statement that it met with tribal officials more than a dozen times since February 2025, but tribal leaders recently cut off further communications and turned to the media. The tribes dispute that claim.

Powhatan Chiefdom

Led by Chief Powhatan, whose proper name was Wahunsenacawh, the chiefdom consisted of more than 30 Algonquian-speaking Native American tribes in Southeast Virginia’s Tidewater Region. The alliance formed as early English colonists arrived and established Jamestown in the early 1600s.

Powhatan led his people through the early years of colonial invasion. Powhatan initially sought diplomacy and trade with the colonists, providing food and other provisions. But after Captain John Smith didn’t uphold the colonists’ end of the terms in providing European goods and tools, the relationship soured. Powhatan eventually grew wary of the English as their settlement expanded.

Powhatan died in 1618. His daughter, Pocahontas, was notable for associating with the Jamestown people, ultimately marrying colonist John Rolfe in 1614. Pocahontas died a year before her father at the age of 21, likely of pneumonia, tuberculosis, or severe dysentery.

Norfolk Casino

After Virginia passed a commercial casino bill in 2020, with Norfolk designated for a gaming development, the Hampton Roads city named the Pamunkey Indian Tribe as its “exclusive gaming developer.”

The designation raised some eyebrows.

While other cities partnered with gaming heavyweights like Caesars Entertainment, Hard Rock International, and Rush Street Gaming, Norfolk picked a small Native American tribe with no gaming or hospitality experience. The decision was credited to the Pamunkeys at the time working with billionaire Jon Yarbrough on a possible casino resort in the area. Yarbrough made his fortune by developing bingo-based, slot-like Class II gambling machines for tribal casinos.

Boyd bought out Yarbrough in September 2024 after numerous legal and financing disputes between the city and Yarbrough. Boyd and the Pamunkeys opened a temporary modular casino on the project site, called The Interim Gaming Hall, in November 2025.