Grave Creek Mound

Infobox_nrhp
name = Grave Creek Mound
nrhp_type = nhl

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caption = Grave Creek Mound in 2006
location = Tomlinson and 9th Streets, Moundsville, West Virginia
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lat_direction = N
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long_direction = W
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designated= July 19, 1964cite web|url=http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=561&ResourceType=Structure
title=Grave Creek Mound |accessdate=2007-10-14|work=National Historic Landmark summary listing|publisher=National Park Service]
added = October 15, 1966cite web|url=http://www.nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com/WV/Marshall/state.html|title=National Register of Historical Places - West Virginia (WV), Marshall County|date=2007-02-08|work=National Register of Historic Places|publisher=National Park Service]
refnum = 66000751
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governing_body = State

At convert|62|ft|m high and convert|240|ft|m in diameter, the Grave Creek Mound is the largest conical type burial mound in the United States of America. It is located in Moundsville, West Virginia. In 1838, much of the archaeological evidence in this mound was destroyed when several non-archaeologists tunneled into the mound. To gain entrance to the mound, two shafts, one vertical and one horizontal were created. This led to the most significant discovery of two burial vaults. This mound along with many others, e.g. the Criel Mound, was the product of the Adena culture.

Grave Creek Mound is the largest conical type of any of the mound builder structures. Construction of the mound took place in successive stages from about 250-150 B.C., as indicated by the multiple burials at different levels within the structures. In 1838, road engineers measured its height at convert|69|ft|m and its at the base as convert|295|ft|m. Originally a moat of about convert|40|ft|m in width and five feet in depth with one causeway encircled it.

The Grave Creek Mound was believed probably first "discovered" by Joseph Tomlinson between 1770, when he and his brother built a log cabin at Grave Creek Flats, and 1772 when he built a cabin convert|300|ft|m from the mound for his family ["Observations respecting the Grave Creek Mound" by Henry R Schoolcraft, "Transactions of the American Ethnological Society" Vol. 1, 1843 p.278] This was a full 33 years before Lewis & Clark wrote about the mound in their journals during their expedition after the Louisiana Purchase. [{The Journals of the Lewis & Clark Expedition By Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, Thomas W. Dunlay, Gary E. Moulton p.77]

It was saved from demolition in 1908 by the Wheeling Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution who were able to raise enough funds to acquire an option on the property, and in 1909 the state of West Virginia purchased the site. [Schramm, Robert W, "Moundsville" Arcadia Publishing, Moundsville (W. Va.) 2004] It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1964.citation|title=PDFlink| [http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NHLS/Text/66000751.pdf National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Grave Creek Mound] |608 KiB |date=October 15, 1985 |author=Denise L. Grantz |publisher=National Park Service and PDFlink| [http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NHLS/Photos/66000751.pdf Accompanying 1 photo, aerial view, from 1967.] |337 KiB ] ,citation|title=PDFlink| [http://www.wvculture.org/shpo/nr/pdf/marshall/66000751.pdf National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Grave Creek Mound (Accessed via West Virginia Department of Culture and History] |5.42 MiB |date=October 15, 1985 |author=Denise L. Grantz |publisher=National Park Service]

ee also

*Criel Mound
*Grave Creek Stone
*List of National Historic Landmarks
*List of Registered Historic Places in West Virginia

References

External links

* [http://www.wvculture.org/sites/gravecreek.html Grave Creek Mound Archaeology Complex]
* [http://publications.ohiohistory.org/ohstemplate.cfm?action=detail&Page=0107125.html&StartPage=125&EndPage=170&volume=107&notes=&newtitle=Volume%20107%20Page%20125 "In search of the Mound-Builders" by Terry A. Barnhart, Ohio History, the Scholarly Journal of the Ohio Historical Society, Vol 107]