MT. GILEAD — To welcome in the new year, Town Creek Indian Mound State Historic Site in Mt. Gilead is announcing new hours and exciting special events kicking off in 2008. Effective immediately, the site is open Tuesday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday, 1-5 p.m. The site will remain closed to the public on Mondays and most major holidays. Special events coming up in 2008 will include astronomy nights, the annual Indian heritage festival and Eastern Woodlands Day.
The state historic site’s next special event will reflect the traditional February observance of Black History Month. In keeping with the theme, Town Creek Indian Mound will present a special afternoon showing of “Black Indians: An American Story,” Saturday, Feb. 2, at 4 p.m., in the museum auditorium. Narrated by James Earl Jones, the film explores what brought Native and African Americans together, what drove them apart and the challenges that they face today. The event is free.
For more than a thousand years, American Indians farmed lands later known as North Carolina. Around A.D. 1000, a new cultural tradition arrived in the Pee Dee River Valley. Throughout Georgia, South Carolina, eastern Tennessee, and western and southern Piedmont North Carolina, the Mississippian tradition spawned complex societies. Inhabitants built earthen mounds for their leaders, engaged in widespread trade, supported craftspeople and celebrated a new form of religion.
In 1937, excavations began at Town Creek Indian Mound. Key features of the site were reconstructed, including the mound, two temple structures, a burial hut and surrounding stockade. Archaeologists’ excavations revealed that the mound at Town Creek was constructed over an early rectangular structure known as an “earth lodge.”
The mission of Town Creek Indian Mound State Historic Site is to interpret the history of the American Indians who once lived here. The visitor center features interpretive exhibits, as well as audiovisual displays. A national historic landmark, Town Creek Indian Mound State Historic Site is North Carolina’s only state historic site dedicated to American Indian heritage. Tour groups are welcome and encouraged.
The historic site is located on Town Creek Mound Road approximately five miles east of Mt. Gilead, in southern Montgomery County between NC 73 and NC 731. For information on Town Creek, call the site at 910-439-6802, e-mail towncreek@ncmail.net or visit www.towncreek.nchistoricsites.org.
Administered by the Division of State Historic Sites, Town Creek Indian Mount is part of the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources, a state agency dedicated to the promotion and protection of North Carolina’s arts, history, and culture. Join the Cultural Resources 2008 theme observance of “Telling Our Stories.” For more information, visit www.ncculture.com.