 At the time of European colonization, the native tribes of the area that would become Prince William County were the Doeg, an Algonquian-speaking sub-group of the Powhatan tribal confederation.When John Smith and other English explorers ventured to the upper Potomac River beginning in 1608, they recorded the name of a village the Doeg inhabited as "Pemacocack" (meaning "plenty of fish" in their language).It was located on the west bank of the Potomac River about 30 miles south of present-day Alexandria.