Pinson Mounds

Pinson is the largest known Middle Woodland mound complex in the United States, built in stages between roughly 1 and 500 CE; the site became a National Historic Landmark in 1964 and entered the National Register in 1966. The complex spreads over 1,200 acres in three sections: an inner group centered on Sauls' Mound, a western Ozier group, and an eastern section holding a large geometric earthen enclosure. Sauls' Mound stands 72 feet, described as the second-highest surviving prehistoric mound in the United States. Unlike many later Southeastern centers, Pinson's mounds appear to have been built primarily for ceremonial and civic purposes rather than as burial monuments.

The setting matters as much as the scale. The mounds sit on an upland plateau above the wetlands of the South Fork of the Forked Deer River, where oak uplands, cypress bottomlands and beech slopes meet around the complex. Tennessee operates it as one of its two archaeological parks, with a museum and an education and research mission. The site is ancestral ground for Native nations of the Southeast, and the park's interpretive framing treats the mounds as ceremonial architecture. Visitors climb a boardwalk-and-stairs route up Sauls' Mound for the plateau view that ties the three sections together.

Visiting

The park is operated by Tennessee State Parks. The park is open daily from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. in summer (March 16 to October 31) and 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. in winter (November 1 to March 15). The museum and office are open 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday to Saturday and 1 to 4:30 p.m. Sunday; the museum closes on state and federal holidays from November through April. Admission is free. Contact: 731-988-5614.

Photo: [Brian Stansberry, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pinson-mounds-sauls-mound.jpg)