By Debbie Adams
The Central Appalachian Cherokee Tribe is a 501(c)(3) community-based educational tribe.
CAC members are descendants of the Cherokee people who once thrived in the area of what is
today East Tennessee, East Kentucky, Southwest Virginia, parts of North Carolina, and southern
West Virginia.
Their website defines their purpose as helping to support the communities of the central
Appalachian region through volunteerism and philanthropy and to keep the memory of their
ancestors alive. “We want to remember them, as we know that their life was hard, and their true
identity was considered shameful in this time of American history.”
Since many descendants of the Central Appalachian Cherokee assimilated or died before the
Indian Removal Act of 1830, as well as before the organization of the Dawes Rolls from 1899-
1907 listing those accepted as Native American (a paper genocide), tribal membership is based
on Native American blood quantum and/or family history (oral or documented).
Ren Herdman, who grew up in Vinton and graduated from William Byrd High School in the
1980s, is the CEO “Chief” of the tribe—the first female to hold that position. Her interests and
careers have expanded through the years. She started off as a radio and TV reporter and
broadcaster (including as a meteorologist), magazine writer, movie actor, educator, martial arts
instructor, member of the military, chaplain, author, and speaker – living and working in many
parts of the country.
Her goal seems to always have been “to make a difference in the world.”
Although she now lives in South Carolina, Herdman frequently visits Southwest Virginia to
share her knowledge, most recently through her program on “Native America: Different Tribes,
Different Journeys.” On March 29, she presented the program at the Charles R. Hill Community
Center in Vinton.
and Cherokee Princess Aleni Garcia (right) display a Cherokee ribbon shawl at the Native
American presentation in Vinton on March 29. (photos by Debbie Adams)
Not only is Herdman an educator on Native American culture, she is also the highest-ranked,
multi-ethnic female martial artist in the world in her form of hand-to-hand combat having earned
a 7th -degree black belt. That led to another appearance at the community center in Vinton on March 31 for a class in Defensive Cane Tai Chi, adapted for the elderly in the community where
she lives.
During the presentation on Native America, Herdman spoke of her multi-ethnic background (she
is Cherokee on her father’s side of the family, Asian on her mother’s), why so many who believe
they have Native American ancestry are unable to prove their lineage, and her Christian faith.
She brought with her many artifacts, some archaic, and talked about what they were used for and
where they were found.
She brought feathers, which are considered to be very spiritual in Native American cultures,
because birds fly closest to the creator. She brought a buffalo hairpipe bone chest protector, worn
by warriors and a bone choker necklace, also representing warriorship. She displayed and
explained a war club, a box turtle powwow shaker, Cherokee regalia and the European influence
on Native American clothing through trade.
She brought projectile points, gaming stones, scrapers, and innumerable rocks formed into many
shapes with many uses. Stone was the one hard and easily found material the Indians had.
Herdman says there are rock preforms (unfinished tools) scattered all around the area which
“people don’t know exactly what it is, but they know it’s something.”
She talked about the importance of blankets in Cherokee culture as related to the Trail of Tears.
Native Americans used what they had so Cherokee jewelry generally used beads from seeds,
nuts, shells found in the Eastern United States – not from turquoise found out West. Shells were
also used as money.
Herdman noted that Native Americans in the Roanoke area lived in longhouses, not tepees,
adding sections as a family grew. She explained that Native American cultures are matriarchal –
the women are in charge. And most of the roads throughout Southwest Virginia began as Native
American hunting trails.
She said that in Virginia for many years it was actually “illegal” to be Native American – you
had to be classified as black or white.
As for the Cane Tai Chi session on March 31, Herdman visited the Community Center’s “Eight
Immortals Tai Chi Cane and Defensive Cane Class” several months ago, taught by Steve Garay.
That visit inspired her to develop a form of the program which she is now teaching to the elderly
in her tribe, a combination of Cane Defense and Korean Hapkido.
Herdman, with the assistance of Garay, demonstrated several different defensive moves using the
cane—beginning with bringing the cane tip down on top of the assailant’s foot—in their solar
plexus or on their head. She emphasized the use of the waist in twists and thrusts, and urged
participants in the class to vocalize while responding to an attack with screams, “ugh’s”, and
other frightful sounds.
She and Garay pointed out the advantages of always carrying a cane, which can go places a gun
can’t – and are legal on airplanes.
Herdman will be back in Vinton again at the end of April for the Vinton Dogwood Festival with
the CAC Tribal Summit 2025. The organization will be setting up on the greenway by Glade
Creek behind the Billy Byrd Apartments for tours along the creek “where Native Americans
have left their mark.” Local artifacts will be on display, some found in the Glade Creek area.
The dates are Friday, April 25, with tours at 10 a.m., 1 p.m., and 5 p.m. and on Saturday, April
26, with tours at 10 a.m. and 12 noon, with presentations by members of the tribe after the tours.
At 2 p.m. on Saturday, the 26th , CAC members will be participating in the walking Dogwood
Festival Parade. There is ample parking in the lots and by the walking path.
Also, on the day of the Dogwood Festival, Garay and his class will be doing a Tai Chi
performance in observance of World Tai Chi Day at 10 a.m. in the parking lot behind Vinton
Baptist Church.
