Road Trip Part 7: Poverty Point
Part 7 Summary: Last one in the series! Poverty Point: a little... underwhelming. But I'm really into history. Here's the wikipedia page if you want to see that.
We finally visited Poverty Point! It's a prehistoric monument made of earth (which means it's hills made of dirt) built from around 1700-1000 BC. Wow it was in the middle of NOWHERE. I mean, we didn't even have cell service within half an hour of driving. Also we drove on tiny roads through cotton fields for like three hours. We did stop and pick up a few pieces that had been missed by the harvesting machines so the kids could see how the seeds were all in there. You know, cotton gin and whatnot. That was pretty educational. Anyway, after all that, we arrived at a place that looked totally abandoned. At least we didn't need to worry about COVID.
It wasn't abandoned! There was a little Visitors Center that had displays about the people who lived there and built the mounds, which was actually very interesting. Because I grew up in Louisiana, everything was about plants and animals native there and I loved getting to read about how everything could be used! And my uncle's picture of a black bear on our family property was confirmed; there are black bears in Louisiana, historically and presently. Although very, very few. Also, I knew the mounds were old, but I did not realize HOW old until they showed them on a timeline of the world. I'm pretty sure the oldest thing I'd seen before going there was the Terracotta Army. This is a clear 1,000 years older.
Anyway, I was quite obviously the only person who was impressed by it. H just kept saying how he was so happy we hadn't driven any farther out of the way to visit than we had. The kids were just kind of like, "Cool hill. It's hot." Although they kind of liked learning about the stuff in the visitor center. But I just kept going on about how this was the oldest manmade thing we had ever seen! And also it was a little crazy that it was so close to where I grew up. I mean, sure it's just a pile of dirt, not like stone buildings or anything. But can you imagine growing up two hours away from Stonehenge and not knowing it exists?! That would never happen. But I think you get my point. I had been wanting to go since I learned about North American ancient history (which I think was 2017), and I was so happy that we finally got to. I don't think we'll go back, but it was pretty awesome to be able to look up at a hill and know that more than 3,000 years ago, people had looked up at that same hill.
In case you're wondering, I think it'd be worth driving about three hours out of the way to see. H thinks it'd be worth two. But if you happen to be nearby enough, you should stop by. It's one of the oldest things in the United States! Just don't expect the pyramids.