CAHOKIA MOUNDS STATE PARK - Collinsville, Illinois
Posted by: 
BruceS
N 38° 39.602 W 090° 03.730
15S E 755629 N 4283147
Early center of Native American culture located near Collinsville, Illinois.
Waymark Code: WM3FCN
Location: Illinois, United States
Date Posted: 03/28/2008
Views: 59
From Illinois: A Descriptive and Historical Guide - Tour 19A section:
CAHOKIA MOUNDS STATE PARK. The Museum, a low brick building
exhibits, axes, pipes, pottery, arrowheads, skulls, and miscellaneous artifacts
unearthed in nearby mounds. North of the parking lot looms the tremendous
bulk of MONKS MOUND, the larges in the UNited States, named for the Trappists
who built a monastery at its base in 1809; in 1813 the monks, decimated by
fever, returned to France. A truncated pyramid with four terraces, Monks
Mound is 104 feet wide and 1,000 feet long. Using primitive methods, more
than 2,000 men would have to work two years to match it. A modern pathway
buttressed by logs winds up to picnic grounds at the summit.
The Guide goes on to describe archeological studies which too place at the
mounds beginning in the 1920's and discussion of other mounds in the vicinity.
The site is now known as Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site. The site
has a visitors center located at N 38° 39.288 W 090° 03.532. The state
historic site now protects 2200 acres of the area (more of the site is on
private land.) Cahokia Mounds was designated a National Historic
Landmark on July 19, 1964 and was designated a World Heritage Site in 1982.
The coordinates listed at the at the top of the pages are for the top of
Monk's Mound which can be accessed by via a stairway. There is no longer a
picnic area at the top of mound as described in the guide.
The historic site grounds are open daily 8:00 am to dusk. The
visitors/interpretive center is open Wednesday - Sunday 9:00 am - 5:00 pm.
For more information see the Cahokia Mounds State Historic Sites's
website.