Our company name is a reference to Debdeavon, the chief of the Accawmack Indian Nation on the Eastern Shore when European settlers first arrived, who was also known as the Laughing King.

The Accawmack, who numbered about 2000, were peripheral or nominal members of the Powhatan Confederacy. But since the Chesapeake Bay isolated them from the rest of Tsenacommacah (mainland Virginia), the Eastern Shore tribe had their own confederacy and enjoyed some measure of autonomy and peace under Debdeavon.

During the winter of 1609-1610, which the Jamestown colonists called “the starving time”, a combination of disease, a poor harvest, draught, a harsh winter, and poor drinking water led to so many deaths that the colony nearly collapsed. Debdeavon sent canoes full of food across the Chesapeake Bay to the colonists during this period.

He developed a friendship with the first settler on the Eastern Shore, named Thomas Savage, who had been an adopted son of Chief Powhatan, and gave him a large tract of land near Cape Charles that is still called Savage Neck.

By the onset of the Civil War in 1861, the Eastern Shore tribes were essentially gone, victims of disease, alcoholism, and outright violence. There was an Indian Reservation created on the Eastern Shore in what is today Indiantown Park, but it was disbanded. Were it not, it would be the oldest reservation in the country.

The Native American history of the Eastern Shore today is preserved mostly just through names. Kiptopeke State Park is named for Debdeavon’s brother. The town of Nandua is named for his daughter. In fact, most of the town names are Algonquin words adopted by the colonists, including Machipongo, Chincoteague, Wachapreague, Nassawadox, and Onancock. When people ask about our name, we enjoy recounting the history of Debdeavon and the Eastern Shore, and doing our small part to keep his memory alive.