Pharr Indian Mounds Natchez Trace

Trade from Afar
Around 2,000 to 1,800 years ago native people built Pharr Mounds, a complex of eight dome-shaped mounds, spread over 90 acres.
One of the largest Middle Woodland era mound sites in the region, Pharr Mounds was near a sizable village. The people there attracted a trade for everyday items and ceremonial objects. 

A vast trading network stretched from the southeastern US to the shores of Lake Ontario. Over hundreds of linked trails, objects of copper, mica, greenstone, and shell found their way to Pharr Mounds. People from smaller local villages then came here to obtain exotic goods. 
Natchez Trace ParkwayAll natural and cultural resources along the Natchez Trace Parkway are protected by federal laws.

Objects and Ideas
Mounds Along the Natchez Trace Parkway 
200 BCE
Middle Woodland Period
Bynum Mounds
Pharr Mounds 
Late Woodland Period 800 CE
Boyd Mounds 
Mangum Mounds
Early Mississippian Period 1000CE 1200CE 
Bear Creek Mounds
Late Mississippian Period 1400CE 1600CE 
Emerald Mound

People from the Woodland era created some of the finest crafts and artwork in North America. For inspiration, they turned to the natural world and their understanding of the universe. The objects they created in metal, stone, and shell were prized from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico.

Since many of the traded objects had a spiritual meaning or were linked to religious ceremonies, it is clear that ideas traveled with the trade. Though there were local variations, American Indians throughout today's eastern US understood and related to the imagery skillfully applied to pipes, jewelry, fabric, and pottery.

Coming Home 

Coming Home
Like the native peoples who lived near Pharr Mounds cultures around the world and across time built monuments and lasting memorials. Mounds like these are some of the earliest remaining monuments in North America.

Skillfully designed and built, these mounds are a source of wonder and pride, Spiritually enduring, they become the cornerstone of civic and religious ceremonies and rituals.

Modern Chickasaw feels a strong bond with Pharr Mounds and considers them sacred. Many return here as a part of a pilgrimage to their ancestral homeland.

"I am astounded by the levels of the science of spirituality, and community and organization evident in the creation and existence of Pharr Mounds and how it related to the larger region. I am proud of my ancestors."

Kirk Perry
Executive Officer for Historic Preservation
Chickasaw Nation

Pharr Indian Mounds Markers

Pharr Indian Mounds

2017 Aug 26, Saturday, Humming Bird Tagging, Jesse Owens Park Danville, Alabama and Oakville Indian Museum

For a bag of sugar each, my sister-in-law and I watched the catching and tagging of Hummingbirds.

A Tagged Hummingbird 

Tagging a Hummingbird
Hummingbirds are captured and fitted with a band that is numbered, then if they are recaptured their age can be determined.

When we left that morning he had already tagged thirty Hummingbirds.

The tagging took place at the home of a Master Gardner so we enjoyed a nice stroll through her many gardens. 

Our next stop was at the Farmers Marker in Killen Park. 
There we sampled watermelons, chocolate cake, sausage, strawberry jelly, and Mini tomatoes. 
We registered to win a fifty-dollar gift certificate.

It was getting close to dinner so we stopped at Killen Subway for lunch where we both ordered 
a  six-inch meatball sub-sandwich, chips, and coke.

Next, we rode to the Jesse Owens Museum, cabin, and park in Cullman. 

Jesse Owens Statue

• James Cleveland "Jesse" Owens was an American track and field athlete and four-time Olympic gold medalist in the 1936 Games. Owens specialized in the sprints and the long jump and was recognized in his lifetime as "perhaps the greatest and most famous athlete in track and field history".

Jesse Owens Stats

Jessee Owens Timeline

Our next stop was the Oakville Indian Mount Museum there we saw thousands of Indian Arrowheads, clothing, hides, books, stuffed wolves, bears, & buffalo. 

Sequoyah 1776-1843
a mixed-blood Cherokee is the only known person in history to develop an alphabet or syllabary. Sequoyah's father was Nathaniel Gist. His mother, Wurich, was a sister to Cherokee Chief Doublehead, who controlled the Lawrence County area from 1790 to his death in 1806. As a young boy, Sequoyah, known as George Gist moved with his mother to Wills town in Dekalb County, Al. Sequoyah wrote the Cherokee Alphabet from 1809-1821. Sequoyah helped negotiate the 1816 Turkey Town Treaty which gave up Cherokee claims to Lawrence County and moved to Arkansas in 1818. His need and curiosity for writing prompted a desire to help educate his people with a written Cherokee language. Sequoyah died in Mexico in 1843.

Pottery 

Cherokee Dress 

Sequoyah 1776-1843

Pipes, Tools, and Arrowheads 

 My sister-in-law and I had a busy day, watching the tagging of hummingbirds, a visit to the farmer's market, lunch at the subway, and a trip to Cullman to visit Jesse Owens Park and Oakville Indian Museum.