By Kelsey Palmer
kpalmer@jacksonvilleprogress.com
When living in a county named after the Cherokee Indians and having a high school mascot who proudly dawns a headdress, many local residents recognize the importance and influence of Native American tribes to the historic piney woods of East Texas. What many don’t know, however, is long before the Cherokee Indians arrived in East Texas in 1823, a group of Caddo Indians had already found a place to call home in the area beginning around 800 A.D.
This ancient Caddo village is now more commonly referred to as the Caddo Mounds State Historic Site near Alto, which is owned and operated by the Texas Historical Commission, a group that works to preserve and protect the past. So, when a historical monument goes missing in a place that has hardly changed in over 1,200 years, people take notice.
“When our frequent visitors and people who would drive by the site noticed one of our monuments was gone, we started to get a lot of calls and people asking where it went,” Caddo Mounds Site Manager Jennifer Price said. “Everyone thought it had been stolen or destroyed, but it was actually us who took it down.”
In 1936, the Texas Centennial Commission placed more than 1,100 markers and monuments around the state to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Texas Revolution and the establishment of the Republic of Texas. One of the monuments erected included one placed on the Caddo Mounds State Historic Site, which was engraved with a historical interpretation of the Neches Indians, who lived in the area at the opening of the 18th century until they were expelled from Texas in 1839. And though the monument’s information was correct about the time and place the Neches once lived, there was one problem — its location.
“The Caddo Indians are well-known for building large earth mounds that were used for different things,” Price said. “We have three mounds on the site and the monument actually stood on the top of the ceremonial mound — a sort of spiritual gathering spot for the Caddo chief, council and workers in the tribe.”
Though the site was once owned by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department from its beginnings in 1968, it was transferred to the THC in January 2008 in accordance with the Texas Legislature — sparking the THC’s effort to take the monument off the ceremonial mound.
“After we were moved to the THC, we began a scoping process with Caddo Nation to determine what things we needed to make changes to and that became our interpretative mater plan,” Price said. “During the roundtable meetings and interviews we had with the Tribal Council members, they brought up that we should move it.”
According to Price, she is among the individuals who promoted the monument be taken down, and less than six months ago, she got what she hoped for.
“The historical marker really held no significance to the mound it was on, so it really shouldn’t have been on it,” she said. “It still holds a purpose here, but just not on a mound.”
Sarah Tober, the senior marketing specialist for THC’s 20 historical sites, agreed with Price.
“To me, the reasons to move the centennial monument were fairly obvious,” Tober said. “There are many religious and spiritual implications to having a marker on a mound where ceremonies once took place.”
As for the monument, it is currently in storage at Caddo Mounds and the THC has yet to find a place to move it on the site.
“We have no specific date for relocating the centennial monument and we’re working hard on that, but it’s a cautious process,” Tober said. “We have teams of archeologists and historians to analyze things like this. We also work closely with the Caddo Nation, and we have to keep the visitors in mind as well, so many parties go into the decision process.”
Price said she would like to have the marker placed before next summer. However, rather than acting quickly, her greatest concern is finding a location that will uphold the history of the Neches Indians, while keeping it separate from the history left by the Caddo Indians.
“We want the people who visit the site to be able to read the monument and find it meaningful while placing it where the message won’t be destroyed according to its location on the site,” she said. “We want all of our visitors to experience the Caddo Mounds fully along with its rich history.”
With the monument removed, it no longer takes away from the greatness of the ceremonial mound it once stood on, especially for Caddo-descendant Nick Pinkerton, of Oklahoma City, Okla. Pinkerton traveled over six hours with his two friends, Collin Gentry and Steven Myers, to compete in Stephen F. Austin State University’s NIRSA Region IV Flag Football Tournament this weekend in Nacogdoches. He knew he had to stop by the Caddo Mounds while he was nearby.
“It’s crazy to me to be out here and see this. This is where my ancestors once lived,” Pinkerton said. “Most people go to Europe to learn about their past and where they’re from, but this is where I’m from. Right here.”
