After living in Reno, NV for the last seventeen years, it was finally time to move on to some new adventures. I'll miss the Tahoe and the Sierras, but staying in one place for too long leads to stagnation and I can always travel back to see friends. After spending most of October preparing for the move, my wife and I finally arrived in Atlanta, GA. I'm not sure there is a environmental equivalent of culture-shock, but it's definitely a big change. Not wanting to wait to get outdoors, I ventured out a bit as soon as we established ourselves in our new house.
My first stop was the Etowah Indian Mounds about an hour west of my new home in Lawrenceville. These earthen mounds were at the center of a small Native American city that flourished during the Mississippian culture between 950 and 1400 C.E. It is related to and reminiscent of the much larger city of Cahokia near my birthplace, but on a small scale. Only three mounds remain at this site.
As I enter the small visitors center, the lone park ranger is giving a short talk about the history of the site to a boy scout group. I stand at the back and listen in, and then when he finishes, I check in and begin exploring the site. From the visitors center, a path leads out into an open field, which once served as a courtyard below the tallest of the three mounds. I first walk over to and up the stairs of the smaller two mounds. Just to the southeast of the mounds, the Etowah River swiftly flows past and probably served multiple purposes for the civilization that once thrived here. Finally, I make my way up the largest of the mounds, which is believed to have served as home to the leader or chief of the city. From the top, I can see far off into the distance, even through the dense fog that is coming off of the river.
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