Oakville, Alabama

Last updated

Oakville, Alabama
USA Alabama location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Oakville
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Oakville
Coordinates: 34°26′43″N87°09′44″W / 34.44528°N 87.16222°W / 34.44528; -87.16222
Country Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States
State Flag of Alabama.svg  Alabama
County Lawrence
Elevation
200 m (640 ft)
Time zone UTC-6 (Central (CST))
  Summer (DST) UTC-5 (CDT)
Area code 256
GNIS feature ID160286 [1]

Oakville is an unincorporated community located in the southeast corner of Lawrence County, Alabama, United States. The community has two parks.

Contents

The Jesse Owens museum was opened in 1996. Owens was born and spent the majority of his childhood in the community before his family moved to Cleveland, Ohio. The Jesse Owens Memorial Park and Museum is at the intersection of county roads 203 and 187. [2]

Oakville Indian Mounds Park and Museum

The Oakville Indian Mounds Park and Museum is an 83-acre (340,000 m2) state park dedicated to ancient Native American monuments and the historic Cherokee nation of the Southeast. It preserves twenty 2,000-year-old mounds built by Middle Woodland-era (1-500 CE) prehistoric indigenous peoples. The Copena culture developed out of the Hopewell tradition. They were named for their distinctive use of copper and galena, a lead ore mineral. The most significant earthworks are a burial mound and the Copena Ceremonial Mound, the largest ceremonial mound surviving in present-day Alabama. The latter is 27 feet (8.2 m) high, with a base of 1.8 acres (7,300 m2). The platform top has an area of 1-acre (4,000 m2). The Copena culture developed from the complex Hopewell tradition, whose people had a wide regional trading network across the continent.

The state museum is designed in the style of a Cherokee council house, as these were the dominant indigenous people of the area at the time of European encounter. It provides exhibits on the Copena culture, displaying more than 1000 archeological artifacts that were excavated on site. It also includes material on the historic Cherokee nation, whose people had migrated to the area and inhabited it by the time of European encounter in the 17th century. They are not descendants of the Copena culture but are believed to have migrated south from the Great Lakes area in ancient times.

In addition, the museum includes a display explaining the history of the so-called "Black-Dutch" people of the area, mixed-race descendants of European and Cherokee who stayed in the area after Indian Removal in the nineteenth century. They generally identified as Cherokee but tried to avoid discrimination by calling themselves "Black Dutch". Since the mid-twentieth century, they have reclaimed their Cherokee ancestry and, according to the display, four thousand people are now enrolled as members of the state-recognized Echota Cherokee Tribe of Alabama.

The grounds of the museum include part of the Black Warriors’ Path, an Indian major trading route which goes past the mounds. [3] Beginning in Cullman County, Alabama, it passes through the state and was long used by Native Americans. Later, British-American pioneers called it Mitchell Trace. [4]

The park hosted the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) Cross Country National Junior Olympics in 2008 and 2015. It has hosted the AHSAA XC Championships since 2002. [5]

The park also has a lake and fishing pier. The street address for the park is 1219 County Rd. 187, Danville, Alabama, 35619.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lawrence County, Alabama</span> County in Alabama, United States

Lawrence County is a county in the northern part of the U.S. state of Alabama. As of the 2020 census, the population was 33,073. The county seat is Moulton. The county was named after James Lawrence, a captain in the United States Navy from New Jersey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hopewell tradition</span> Ancient North American indigenous civilization

The Hopewell tradition, also called the Hopewell culture and Hopewellian exchange, describes a network of precontact Native American cultures that flourished in settlements along rivers in the northeastern and midwestern Eastern Woodlands from 100 BCE to 500 CE, in the Middle Woodland period. The Hopewell tradition was not a single culture or society but a widely dispersed set of populations connected by a common network of trade routes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Etowah Indian Mounds</span> Archaeological site in Georgia, U.S.

Etowah Indian Mounds (9BR1) are a 54-acre (220,000 m2) archaeological site in Bartow County, Georgia, south of Cartersville. Built and occupied in three phases, from 1000–1550 CE, the prehistoric site is located on the north shore of the Etowah River.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Ancient (Lebanon, Ohio)</span> United States historic place

Fort Ancient is a Native American earthworks complex located in Washington Township, Warren County, Ohio, along the eastern shore of the Little Miami River about seven miles (11 km) southeast of Lebanon on State Route 350. The site is the largest prehistoric hilltop enclosure in the United States with three and one-half miles (18,000 ft) of walls in a 100-acre (0.40 km2) complex. Built by the Hopewell culture, who lived in the area from the 200 BC to AD 400, the site is situated on a wooded bluff 270 feet (82 m) above the Little Miami. It is the namesake of a culture known as Fort Ancient who lived near the complex long after it was constructed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park</span> National monument in the United States

Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park in Macon, Georgia, United States preserves traces of over ten millennia of culture from the Native Americans of the Southeastern Woodlands. Its chief remains are major earthworks built before 1000 CE by the South Appalachian Mississippian culture These include the Great Temple and other ceremonial mounds, a burial mound, and defensive trenches. They represented highly skilled engineering techniques and soil knowledge, and the organization of many laborers. The site has evidence of "12,000 years of continuous human habitation." The 3,336-acre (13.50 km2) park is located on the east bank of the Ocmulgee River. Macon, Georgia developed around the site after the United States built Fort Benjamin Hawkins nearby in 1806 to support trading with Native Americans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mississippian culture</span> Native American culture in the United States (800 - 1600)

The Mississippian culture was a Native American civilization that flourished in what is now the Midwestern, Eastern, and Southeastern United States from approximately 800 to 1600, varying regionally. It was known for building large, earthen platform mounds, and often other shaped mounds as well. It was composed of a series of urban settlements and satellite villages linked together by loose trading networks. The largest city was Cahokia, believed to be a major religious center located in what is present-day southern Illinois.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hopewell Culture National Historical Park</span> United States national historical park

Hopewell Culture National Historical Park is a United States national historical park with earthworks and burial mounds from the Hopewell culture, indigenous peoples who flourished from about 200 BC to 500 AD. The park is composed of four separate sites open to the public in Ross County, Ohio, including the former Mound City Group National Monument. The park includes archaeological resources of the Hopewell culture. It is administered by the United States Department of the Interior's National Park Service.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moundville Archaeological Site</span> Archaeological site in Alabama, United States

Moundville Archaeological Site, also known as the Moundville Archaeological Park, is a Mississippian culture archaeological site on the Black Warrior River in Hale County, near the modern city of Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Extensive archaeological investigation has shown that the site was the political and ceremonial center of a regionally organized Mississippian culture chiefdom polity between the 11th and 16th centuries. The archaeological park portion of the site is administered by the University of Alabama Museums and encompasses 185 acres (75 ha), consisting of 29 platform mounds around a rectangular plaza.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crystal River Archaeological State Park</span> Place in Florida listed on National Register of Historic Places

Crystal River State Archaeological Site is a 61-acre (250,000 m2) Florida State Park located on the Crystal River and within the Crystal River Preserve State Park. The park is located two miles (3 km) northwest of the city of Crystal River, on Museum Point off U.S. 19/98.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kolomoki Mounds</span> Archaeological site in Georgia, US

The Kolomoki Mounds is one of the largest and earliest Woodland period earthwork mound complexes in the Southeastern United States and is the largest in Georgia. Constructed from 350 to 600, the mound complex is located in southwest Georgia, in present-day Early County near the Chattahoochee River.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nanih Waiya</span> United States historic place

Nanih Waiya is an ancient platform mound in southern Winston County, Mississippi, constructed by indigenous people during the Middle Woodland period, about 300 to 600 CE. Since the 17th century, the Choctaw and Chickasaw have venerated Nanih Waiya mound and a nearby cave as their sacred origin location.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alabama High School Athletic Association</span> American athletics government body

The Alabama High School Athletic Association (AHSAA), based in Montgomery, is the governing body for interscholastic athletics and activities programs for public schools in Alabama.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. John Paul II Catholic High School (Alabama)</span> Private school in Huntsville, Alabama, United States

St. John Paul II Catholic High School is a coed grades 9-12 college preparatory school, located in Huntsville, Alabama. St. John Paul II Catholic High School is the only Catholic parochial high school in the greater Huntsville area. It was founded in 1996 on 4810 Bradford Drive, previously known as Catholic High School. A new 55-acre (220,000 m2) campus was completed in late 2010 in Thornton Research Park. The new campus includes a chapel, academic wings, auditorium, gymnasium, and athletic fields.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kituwa</span> Historic place in North Carolina, United States

Kituwa or giduhwa (Cherokee:ᎩᏚᏩ) is a Woodland period Native American settlement near the upper Tuckasegee River, and is claimed by the Cherokee people as their original town. An earthwork platform mound, built about 1000 CE, marks a ceremonial site here. The historic Cherokee built a townhouse on top that was used for their communal gatherings and decisionmaking; they replaced it repeatedly over decades. They identify Kituwa as one of the "seven mother towns" in their traditional homeland of the American Southeast. This site is in modern Swain County, North Carolina, in the Great Smoky Mountains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grand Village of the Natchez</span> United States historic place

Grand Village of the Natchez, also known as the Fatherland Site, is a 128.1-acre (0.518 km2) site encompassing a prehistoric indigenous village and earthwork mounds in present-day south Natchez, Mississippi. The village complex was constructed starting about 1200 CE by members of the prehistoric Plaquemine culture. They built the three platform mounds in stages. Another phase of significant construction work by these prehistoric people has been dated to the mid-15th century. It was named for the historic Natchez people, who used the site in the 17th and 18th centuries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old Stone Fort (Tennessee)</span> Archaeological site in Tennessee, US

The Old Stone Fort is a prehistoric Native American structure located in Coffee County, Tennessee, in the Southeastern United States. The structure was most likely built between 80 and 550 AD during the Middle Woodland period. It is the most complex hilltop enclosure found in the South and was likely used for ceremonial purposes rather than defense.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Newark Earthworks</span> Archaeological site in Ohio, United States

The Newark Earthworks in Newark and Heath, Ohio, consist of three sections of preserved earthworks: the Great Circle Earthworks, the Octagon Earthworks, and the Wright Earthworks. This complex, built by the Hopewell culture between 100 BCE and 400 CE, contains the largest earthen enclosures in the world, and was about 3,000 acres in total extent. Less than 10 percent of the total site has been preserved since European-American settlement; this area contains a total of 206 acres (83 ha). Newark's Octagon and Great Circle Earthworks are managed by the Ohio History Connection. A designated National Historic Landmark, in 2006 the Newark Earthworks was also designated as the "official prehistoric monument of the State of Ohio."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prehistory of Ohio</span>

Prehistory of Ohio provides an overview of the activities that occurred prior to Ohio's recorded history. The ancient hunters, Paleo-Indians, descended from humans that crossed the Bering Strait. There is evidence of Paleo-Indians in Ohio, who were hunter-gatherers that ranged widely over land to hunt large game. For instance, mastodon bones were found at the Burning Tree Mastodon site that showed that it had been butchered. Clovis points have been found that indicate interaction with other groups and hunted large game. The Paleo Crossing site and Nobles Pond site provide evidence that groups interacted with one another. The Paleo-Indian's diet included fish, small game, and nuts and berries that gathered. They lived in simple shelters made of wood and bark or hides. Canoes were created by digging out trees with granite axes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Too-Cowee</span> United States national historic site and former Cherokee town

Too-Cowee, was an important historic Cherokee town located near the Little Tennessee River north of present-day Franklin, North Carolina. It also had a prehistoric platform mound and earlier village built by ancestral peoples. As their expression of public architecture, the Cherokee built a townhouse on top of the mound. It was the place for their community gatherings in their highly decentralized society. The name translates to "pig fat" in English. British traders and colonists referred to Cowee as one of the Cherokee Middle Towns along this river; they defined geographic groupings based in relation to their coastal settlements, such as Charlestown, South Carolina.

Hiwassee Island, also known as Jollys Island and Benham Island, is located in Meigs County, Tennessee, at the confluence of the Tennessee and Hiwassee Rivers. It is about 35 mi (56 km) northeast of Chattanooga. The island was the second largest land mass on the Tennessee River at 781 acres before the Tennessee Valley Authority created the Chickamauga Lake as a part of the dam system on the Tennessee River in 1940. Much of the island is now submerged, leaving 400 acres above the waterline.

References

  1. "Oakville". Geographic Names Information System . United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
  2. Jesse Owens Museum, Official Website
  3. Daniels, Gary C. (June 23, 2006). "Black Warrior's Path". Lost Worlds. Retrieved October 20, 2022.
  4. "History of Cullman County" Archived September 27, 2009, at the Wayback Machine , Cullman County, accessed June 14, 2010
  5. "AHSAA XC State Championship 2002 - Meet Information". AlabamaRunners. Retrieved December 11, 2023.