Moundville Archaeological Park photo by Paul Franklin

Alabama Indigenous Mound Trail

​The Alabama Indigenous Mound Trail will serve both to increase visitation to the parks that are part of the trail and to enhance opportunities for tourism-driven economic development in communities near all designated trail sites. UACED staff are working with the operators of sites currently without programming to develop festivals, events, and other opportunities to bring visitors to these sites and into nearby communities. Additionally, we will be working to enhance local leaders' and hospitality workers' awareness and understanding of nearby sites so that they may encourage visitors to their communities to include the site on their itinerary.
 
We have secured support for this program from the Alabama Bicentennial Commission, Association of RC & D Councils, and the Alabama Mountain Lakes Tourist Association. We will begin officially designating sites in Fall 2018 and throughout 2019 during Alabama's bicentennial year.

Background

​Alabama is home to one of the densest concentrations of prehis‐ toric Native American monumental architecture in all of North America. Thousands of years before the arrival of Europeans, highly organized indigenous societies began constructing mounds and associated earthworks out of earth, shell, and  stone throughout Alabama’s landscape. Some of these sites were rivaled in size and complexity only by cities built by the ancient civilizations of Central and South America. The zenith of monumental construction in Alabama took place between 1000 A.D. and 1500 A.D. when the Mississippian mound complexes of the Tennessee, Coosa, Alabama, Tombigbee, Tensaw, Black War‐ rior River Valleys, and Alabama’s Gulf Coast dominated the land‐ scape of the region. Each complex was a bustling center of cultural activity, with tribute and goods from half a continent away pouring in as part of complex economies and belief systems. With the exception of mound sites open to public access at local and state‐operated parks, these ancient sites are mostly hidden away in forests and fields, but their story remains a vital part of our collective heritage.

Project Concept, Goals and Benefits

As an initiative of the University of Alabama’s Office of Archaeological Resources and Center for Economic Development, the Alabama Indigenous Mound Trail provides an opportunity for Alabamians and visitors to our state to enhance their awareness, understanding, and appreciation of the ancient mound centers located in Alabama. Patterned after similar mound trails in Louisiana and Mississippi, the Alabama Indigenous Mound Trail will highlight and celebrate our state’s ancient monumental architecture through a website, brochure, promotional video, and signs installed at each location. In addition to providing important information about each mound site, the brochure and website will make finding and visiting these sites easy as well as connect people to hospitality, retail, and other tourism points of interest nearby. Interpretive signs at each location will complement existing interpretive signs. The promotional video will be designed to inspire people to visit all of the sites at least once. ​Thirteen sites are being designated as official trail stops in Fall 2018 and Spring 2019. Future phases of the program may add more sites as other opportunities are identified to do so.

Site Locations: 

  • Florence Indian Mound (Lauderdale County)
  • The Hamilton Mound Site (Marion County)
  • Oakville Indian Mounds (Lawrence County)
  • The Coker Ford Site (Cherokee County)
  • The Choccolocco Creek Archaeological Complex (Calhoun County)
  • Moundville Archaeological Park (Hale County)
  • The Mound at Fort Toulouse‐Jackson Park (Elmore County)
  • The Bessemer Site (Jefferson County)
  • The Mound at Old Cahawba Archaeological Park (Dallas County)
  • The Bottle Creek Site (Mobile County)
  • The Fuller Site (Baldwin County)
  • Indian Shell Mound Park (Mobile County)
  • Gulf State Park Sand and Shell Middens (Baldwin County)

Site Location Map

Site Dedications

Choccolocco Creek Archaeological Complex Sign Dedication. People standing next to cantilevered interpretative sign
Choccolocco Creek Archaeological Complex Sign Dedication photo courtesy of Brian Rushing
Group of standing people looking at speaker
Choccolocco Creek Archaeological Complex Sign Dedication photo courtesy of Brian Rushing
Old Cahawba Archaeological Park interpretative signage
Old Cahawba Archaeological Park Sign Dedication