Old Stone Fort

Yesterday Russell surprised Brandon and I with an impromptu trip to Old Stone Fort State Archaeological Park. What a cool place... we missed their actual activities but they had atlatl, weaving, cording, pottery and flintknapping demonstrations, among other things, and that was just this weekend.

The place is a 2000-year-old Native American ceremonial site. We walked the 1.25-mile trail that borders Native American earthworks placed in the triangle formed by the Big Duck and Little Duck rivers rushing below in places as far as 85 feet, and the Little Duck drops over some really nice waterfalls in two places. There are little side-trail deviations so your walk can be different each time you go. Besides that, there's a cute little museum with artifacts and reproductions, and samples from their twice a year flintknapping workshops (my favorite: an arrowhead made from the bottom of a glass Clorox bottle). They have a time tunnel and some info about archaeology.

Interesting, that: we white Americans valuing cultures whose descendants our ancestors are responsible for all but wiping out. I've always been a bit awed because England has thousand-year-old structures, and here in this land no buildings exist older than 200-ish years, since we haven't been here longer than that. A bit ethnocentric of me. Here's a structure (albeit in some places hard to see, since externally it looks like a pile of dirt that could be naturally formed) that has stood here since Christ walked the earth, or thereabouts.

A nice walk in the woods, with some thought provoking content, as well, and worth the drive if you're anywhere close. Here's their website:
http://www.tennessee.gov/environment/parks/OldStoneFort/

I know the pictures leave a lot to be desired, but they're not bad for cell phone pics. I promise to get the camera fixed soon for more adventures....