I recently made a trip out to Collinsville, IL to visit the Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site. My next book references a “lost world” and while I was doing research, I stumbled onto information about Cahokia Mounds. I’m really surprised I hadn’t heard about it before; the archeological site houses the remains of the largest, earliest and most sophisticated pre-Columbian civilization north of Mexico, and the site is also on the UNESCO World Heritage List. After reading up on it, I had to go!
All sorts of information about Cahokia Mounds is available online and at cahokiamounds.org, but if you have a chance, visit the Interpretive Center on-site. It’s a great little museum with a wealth of information, including a scaled-down representation of the site, a theatre where you can watch a movie/documentary about Cahokia Mounds, and a picturesque window view of the Mounds’ main plaza. The Interpretive Center is very impressive and well-worth making a donation to given all the volunteer work that goes into hosting the Center.
The Mounds are fascinating! Several of them are burial mounds, and the part of me that enjoys a good ghost story wonders if there are any, given that residential homes were once built on the site. Might make for a good research project! There was definitely a “feel” to the area for me, a sense of stepping back into a separate place which was surprising since a highway (built before Cahokia Mounds was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1964) runs through the site and a couple of archeological digs dot the area. The fields are grassy and the whole place feels like a park. Even the mounds seem more like rolling hills. It’s a lovely site, lovingly maintained.
I didn’t have a chance to try the hiking trails, but I talked to a man who lives in the area and he had wonderful stories about the natural habitat through which the trails weave. It seems you can run into your fair share of nature and animals including, in his case, snakes! He also mentioned that the deer like to gather in the Mounds’ main plaza. Snakes excepting, I would definitely like to give the trails a try on my next visit.
The best part of the site for me, though, was Woodhenge. From what I understand, not a lot of tourists make it out to Woodhenge, perhaps because it sits about a mile away from the rest of the site, or perhaps because the idea of a bunch of wooden posts standing in a circle doesn’t scream exciting the way archeological mounds might. I don’t know, though; driving to a removed area of the site and finding myself in a still and silent field, standing outside a cluster of tall wooden posts looming in a wide, almost ceremonial circle around a single post in the center made for an odd, slightly eerie experience. I was tempted to step into the middle of the circle and walk to the center post, but I was the only person at the site and my imagination was racing, so I decided not to. On my next visit, maybe during one of the solstices or equinoxes when crowds like to gather there, I might give it a try!
The biggest surprise was discovering that the Great River Road is just down the way. I really felt like an idiot for not planning my impulse trip better, and it was an opportunity missed! I do plan on returning to Cahokia Mounds, and for that trip I would love to drive down the Great River Road, sometime during a fall season, maybe for an autumnal equinox, hopefully catch some foliage, and enjoy all the things I didn’t do this time around. If you’ve never heard of Cahokia Mounds, or have heard of it but never got around to visiting it, go. It’s worth a spot on any itinerary for sure.