Welcome to the Choccolocco Park

Welcome to the Choccolocco Park. Interpretive Trail. The interpretive trail winds through what was once the 19th century Muscogee (Creek) Nation town of Choccolocco. Archaeologists have found evidence that Native Americans began coming to this place about 8,000 BC and the establishment of long-term settlements began about 100 BC when work on the earthen mound was first started. The stone. mound along the trail was probably constructed about AD 500 and once sat on nearby Signal Mountain. The earthen mound along the trail has been reconstructed as it looked at about AD 1100.

Timeline

12,750 BC -9,500 BC , Paleoindian , These people lived during the last ice age in an environment and climate altogether different from that which we know today. Although we know very little about the people that lived at this time, archaeologists refer to them as the "Clovis Culture" after the distinctive fluted spear points that they crafted.

9,500 BC - 1,250 BC , Archaic , The Archaic Period covers a vast expanse of time (8,250 years). As more research becomes available, archaeologists will be able to better define human adaptations during this period. The people living during this time developed many technological innovations and adaptation to the local environment allowed them to become less nomadic.

1,250 BC - AD 1000 , Woodland , People living during this period were more sedentary and began establishing permanent communities. At the earthen mound found here, archaeologists have identified the earliest known example of large-scale public works in the Choccolocco Valley.

AD 1000 - AD 1625 , Mississippi , One of the hallmarks of people living during this period is the important role that maize agriculture played in their lives. It is also during this time period that Native Americans engaged in their most ambitious public works. At this location, archaeologists have found that construction resumed at the earthen mound during this time period.

AD 1625 - AD, 1730 , "Shattering" of the , Mississippian World , Beginning in A.D. 1540, Native American people in the Choccolocco Valley were first exposed to Europeans during the expeditions of Spanish explorers Hernando de Soto and Tristan de Luna. Archaeologists working in the region have found widespread evidence that Mississippian people in the region experienced demographic collapse after the de Soto expedition.

AD 1730 - AD 1832 , Muscogee (Creek) Nation , By A.D. 1730, the Native American people living in the region had organized themselves into a type of confederation that would become known as the Muscogee (Creek) Nation in order to speak with one voice when negotiating with the various European (and later American) governments. This time period ends in the 1830s when the Muscogee (Creek) inhabitants were forcibly removed during the "Trail of Tears.”

AD 1832 - AD 1865 , Antebellum , The word "antebellum" means "before the war." For simplicity we have included the years of the United States Civil War in this time period. At the beginning of the period, American settlers flooded into the region and began developing the cotton economy. However, some of the earliest industrial iron furnaces in Alabama were also constructed. during this time.

AD 1865 - Present , Industrialization and Urbanization , This time period begins with the end of the Civil War and continues to the present day. As transportation and technology improvements have increasingly connected the Choccolocco Valley to the rest of the world, the economy of the valley has become more complex. Just as 10,000 years ago, today people choose to live here because of the high quality of life that the area provides for its residents.