Ely Mound
This Indian Mound is located just a few miles west of Rose Hill, Va. along what was once the Wilderness Road. It lies near the base of Stone Mountain, right below the White Rocks landmark.
The Ely Mound (so named because the property was owned by Robert Ely in 1877) is the best-preserved Indian mound in Virginia and dates to the Late Woodland-Mississippian Period (AD 1200-1650), during which more complex societies and practices evolved, including chiefdoms and religious ceremonies. Often, temples, elite residences, and council buildings stood atop substructure or townhouse mounds such as Ely Mound.(Decaying cedar posts remained in the ground in the late 1800’s, and were frequently struck by plows). Lucien Carr, assistant curator of the Peabody Museum in Boston, led an excavation here in 1877. At that time, the mound measured 300 feet in circumference, and 19 feet in height. Excavation lasted a little over two weeks, with skeletons pottery, and arrowheads of white flint being unearthed. Unfortunately, one man was killed within a few feet of the bottom of the mound when the shaft he had been digging in collapsed. Several other men were injured. The mound has remained undisturbed ever since, and is listed in the National Register of Historical Places.
Ely Mound
This Indian Mound is located just a few miles west of Rose Hill, Va. along what was once the Wilderness Road. It lies near the base of Stone Mountain, right below the White Rocks landmark.
The Ely Mound (so named because the property was owned by Robert Ely in 1877) is the best-preserved Indian mound in Virginia and dates to the Late Woodland-Mississippian Period (AD 1200-1650), during which more complex societies and practices evolved, including chiefdoms and religious ceremonies. Often, temples, elite residences, and council buildings stood atop substructure or townhouse mounds such as Ely Mound.(Decaying cedar posts remained in the ground in the late 1800’s, and were frequently struck by plows). Lucien Carr, assistant curator of the Peabody Museum in Boston, led an excavation here in 1877. At that time, the mound measured 300 feet in circumference, and 19 feet in height. Excavation lasted a little over two weeks, with skeletons pottery, and arrowheads of white flint being unearthed. Unfortunately, one man was killed within a few feet of the bottom of the mound when the shaft he had been digging in collapsed. Several other men were injured. The mound has remained undisturbed ever since, and is listed in the National Register of Historical Places.