Seniors from First Baptist Church (SAMs) recently had an outing to Toltec Mounds Archeological State Park at Scott.
Mrs. Gilbert Knapp, owner of the land from 1857 to 1900, thought the Toltec Indians of Mexico had built the mounds. Investigation by archeologists in 1883 proved the ancestors of North American Indians had built these mounds, like other mound sites in North America, according to a news release.
The people who built the mounds at the site had a distinct culture from other contemporary Native American groups in the Mississippi Valley. The culture is named Plum Bayou after a local stream. The people of the tribe built houses, farmed, gathered wild plants, fished and hunted, according to a news release.
While traveling to the park along U.S. 165, the mounds can be seen in the distance. Eighteen mounds were erected near the natural oxbow lake, now called Mound Lake. The tallest remaining mound is 49 feet high. Another rises to 39 feet and a third is nearly 14 feet.
Surrounding the mounds was an earthen embankment about 10 feet tall. Only one mound is thought to have been used as a burial site. There are no clues as to why the site was abandoned or where the Plum Bayou people went.
The visitor center features exhibits including artifacts from the site, an A/V theater that features an interesting film, and an archeological research laboratory. There is a 1.6 mile turf trail that would be fun to walk in the spring or early summer.
The SAMs stopped at Ms. Charlotte’s for lunch before entering the park. Those making the trip were the driver, Roger Minyard; trip organizer, Jeanette McGrew; Helen Campbell, DeeDee Foster, Ann Holt, Peggie Howard, Catherine Long, Joe Massey, Margaret Massey, Linda Minyard, Jane Nixon, Lloyd Sims, Brian Tubbs and Caroline Windsor.