On march 16, 2012, Helen Rountree delivered the banner lecture "Before It Was Virginia: Setting the Stage"

When English settlers arrived here 400 years ago, they encountered the first Virginians, the most famous of whom are the subjects of Helen C. Rountree's book, Pocahontas, Powhatan, and Opechancanough: Three Indian Lives Changed by Jamestown. This presentation was the keynote address of "From the Earth: The Environment in Virginia's Past and Future," a free day-long conference on the historical relationship between Virginia's environment and its people. The conference was made possible by a generous grant from the Virginia Environmental Endowment. Dr. Rountree is professor emerita of anthropology at Old Dominion University. She now concentrates full time on writing and speaking about early Virginia Indians, as well as consulting with the Virginia Council on Indians and on tribal recognition. (Introduction by Gerald P. McCarthy)

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