Kiptopeke biography

Kiptopeke is a modern place name that pays homage to a historic warrior. Unlike many other regional Indian names – think Chincoteague, Wachapreague and Nassawadox – Kiptopeke isn’t a moniker handed down over generations.

The Indian word means “big water,” and it was first used in 1949 to refer to a place on the western side of the peninsula, near the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay.

When the Virginia Ferry Corp. moved its terminal out of Cape Charles in the late ’40s, it named the spot in honor of an Indian who befriended Virginia’s first colonists, bestowing the name “Kiptopeke Beach” on the site of the old ferry terminal.

In 1992, the name came into greater prominence when officials created the 590-acre Kiptopeke State Park.

Kiptopeke was a real person.

In the early 1600s, he was chief of a small tribe on the Eastern Shore known as the Accohannock tribe.

Kiptopeke was the younger brother of the chief of the larger Accomack Indi