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At a glance... Southeast of East Prairie |
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Contact: Hunter-Dawson State Historic Site |
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Towosahgy State Historic Site, located in southeast Missouri, sits quietly and completely surrounded by some of the most fertile farming land in Missouri. This tranquility of today was not always the situation. At one time, between A.D. 1000 and 1400, the site was a Mississippian civil-ceremonial center and fortified village. Within this village, a full gamut of ceremonial and domestic activities took place that served the inhabitants needs from "cradle to grave."
The name, Towosahgy, was borrowed from the Osage Indians and means "old town." Visitors to the 64-acre tract of land can see remnants of past activities in the form of earthen mounds constructed for ceremonial, residential and religious purposes. Less obvious, but more telling, is the evidence of past occupancy that has been found through professional archaeological research in the soils of the site.
Archaeology conducted to date and the information discovered is portrayed in informative exhibit panels that look out on to the site. The information on the exhibits provides a realistic and informative picture of the Mississippian culture that occupied this part of southeastern Missouri. Visitors can envision the lifestyle of a people who lived in a far distant time in Missouri presettlement history.
