The area around this site is now deeply wooded. Yet between 500-1100 years ago, the area was once an important ceremonial site for the people of the Late Woodland period. These native peoples lived in permanent villages, with fields of corn on the river bottoms below. Imagine instead of the birdcalls of the woods, the sounds of people gathering for an important religious event, perhaps singing, dancing, or chanting. Imagine digging the dirt out of the hillsides to create miles of ceremonial mounds, basketful by basketful of dirt.

This ceremonial site was first recorded and described by Charles Whittlesey in 1847. 20 years later, the site had been deeply disturbed by plowing. Please help us maintain these earthworks by staying on the trail, so other peoples after you can wonder about the life of these early inhabitants.