ABOUT THIS MOUND
ABOUT THIS MOUND AND WHO BUILT IT
This site is one of three known major surviving mound complexes in the Florida Panhandle. It is believed to have been built by the Weedon Island Culture (200-900 CE), Native Americans who lived in North Florida. The hierarchical society planned and constructed massive earthwork mounds and villages. This mound complex had about ten smaller mounds and two plazas. The large mound itself had two side platforms, an earthen ramp and a top styled similar to Meso-American structures. The main village was to the south of the complex near Lloyd Creek.
Letchworth was built over the course of hundreds of years. The largest mound is estimated to have been made using 27 million gallons of soil, mixed with shells, and encased in clay and was completely built by hand one basketful at a time. It is approximated that it took at least six-million trips from a nearby pit. Although the mound today has trees and underbrush growing from it, when originally built, such earthwork mounds were typically clear of vegetation, with smooth prepared sides. The mound measures 300 feet in width and has a height between 46 and 50 feet.
The mound likely rose from flat plazas which were intentionally leveled. Mounds like those at Letchworth-Love Archaeological State Park would have served as gathering places for rituals, games and major occasions. The community, of which such a tall mound was likely the center, would have included nearby dwellings for workers, and communal fields and gardens. Large quantities of maize would have been cultivated to support the population density of such complex societies.
Researchers believe the Letchworth mound served as a capital monument for the social, political and religious spheres of Weeden life. Archaeological research indicates the mounds were built between 200 - 900 CE by members of the Swift Creek and Weeden Island Native American cultures, a group of Native Americans who lived in North Florida between 450 and 900 CE. Some scholars, however, have suggested the mounds were more closely styled like those of the Mississippians, a later culture in Florida.
