National Register of Historic Places

Lake Jackson Mounds

Tallahassee, Leon County, Florida
Listed
May 5, 1971
Type
Site
Period
Listed
Ref No.
71000241

About this property

Lake Jackson Mounds Archaeological State Park is a 82.94 ha (204.94 acres) Florida state park in Leon County, Florida, about 5 miles (8.0 km) north of downtown Tallahassee. It preserves the Lake Jackson Mounds (8LE1), the capital of a Fort Walton culture chiefdom that occupied the region between about 1050 and 1500 and one of the largest Mississippian mound centers in the lower Southeast. At its height the complex comprised seven earthen platform mounds grouped around one or more plazas, together with village residences and surrounding farmland. The largest, Mound 2, rose about 11 m (36 ft) and probably carried the residence of the paramount chief. Nearby Mound 3 served as a mortuary temple; the burials excavated from it yielded repoussé copper plates, engraved shell gorgets, and other elite objects in the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex style, most acquired through a long exchange relationship with the Etowah chiefdom in Georgia. Mound 3 lay on private land and was leveled for fill dirt in 1975–1976, prompting a salvage excavation that recorded its contents. After the site was abandoned around 1500, the chiefdom's seat moved to Anhaica, whose inhabitants the de Soto expedition met in 1539 as the Apalachee. Surveyors recorded the mounds as early as 1852, and archaeologists including Gordon Willey, John Griffin, B. Calvin Jones, and Claudine Payne investigated the site from 1940 onward. Florida began acquiring the property in 1966, and it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971. Today the park protects upland hardwood forest, bottomland forest, and a steephead ravine system draining to Lake Jackson, and offers hiking trails and interpretive exhibits. It forms part of the Florida Greenways and Trails System and lies within the Florida Wildlife Corridor.

Location

Tallahassee, Leon County, Florida

Categories

PREHISTORIC
Sources

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Native Heritage
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Settlement
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Questions about this property

When was Lake Jackson Mounds listed on the National Register?

Lake Jackson Mounds was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on May 5, 1971.

What type of historic resource is Lake Jackson Mounds?

Lake Jackson Mounds is classified as a site in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for Lake Jackson Mounds?

The period of significance for Lake Jackson Mounds is recorded as the listed era.

Can I research the history near Lake Jackson Mounds?

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