Moors Ln, Brentwood, 37027
Open every 3rd Saturday of the month. Also open from the greenway trail every day.
If you live in the Nashville area like I do, you probably think of Indian mounds as something you have to plan a day trip to visit. Normally you would be right to think this way. After all, almost all evidence of Native Americans has been obliterated in the city and suburbs of Nashville, plowed or bulldozed away to make room for shopping malls and neighborhoods. But what if I told you that Brentwood has a highly significant Native American site that also combines a bit of Tennessee history with it? It's true, and it is right in our backyard!
Also known as the Boiling Springs Mounds, the Fewkes Group Archeaological Site is located in Primm Historic Park on Moore’s Lane near Wilson Pike. The site is named after Dr. J. Walter Fewkes, the Chief of the Bureau of American Ethnology, who visited the mounds and noted their possible significance in 1920, and excavations began later that year by William E. Myer. What they found were five mounds, many interesting artifacts including burials, and two different groups of people having lived there 1050 AD - 1475 AD during the late Mississippian culture! (The Mississippian culture ran from 900 AD - 1600AD.) Much of the information we'll go into comes from the writings of Mr. Myer called "Two Prehistoric Villages in Middle Tennessee" (1928) discussed by later professionals in this paper and this paper.
Let’s start with its location. The 31-acre site sits alongside the western bank of the Little Harpeth River with Boiling Springs nearby. The first group of people lived here between 1000 AD and 1450 AD and they created the mounds, some of which are for burial and others for ceremonial uses. This group also left behind most of the artifacts that have been found. The second group of people came in near the end of this period, and the site was abandoned by 1475 AD. As to why it was abandoned, no one is entirely sure. Nearly all the villages in the Middle Cumberland River Valley were abandoned around 1450 AD, and one hypothesis is that northern tribes who themselves were pressured came southward and attacked the villages of the area. Another theory which seems to be generally accepted is the 'Vacant Quarter' theory. This is a 50,000 square mile area of land across eight states, including portions of Tennessee, that suffered a terrible drought and forced people to move. Here in the Fewkes Group, as in other locations, large amounts of broken pottery were found on the floors of their homes, which seems to indicate possible violence and a need to leave in a hurry. I've explored this abandonment of Middle Tennessee villages by American Indians in the blog on the Sellars Farm site, here.
When you first enter Pimms Park you are facing three of the five mounds. At first glance they may not appear terribly impressive; they aren’t very tall, and without the markers to indicate where they are you may not even realize they are mounds at all. But look harder! Because what was learned about these mounds is pretty interesting indeed. This is what I love about archaeology and anthropology: I'm not an expert, just an enthusiast, but I find learning about the people of the past, how they lived and worshipped, is so fascinating and an important way to understand the history of our region.
Starting with Mound No. 4, it is 4 feet high and unfortunately following damage made by plowing and erosion there was no evidence found of structures, graves, pottery or fire pits. But as we look towards No. 3 things start to get interesting.
No. 3 was a burial mound of the first inhabitants. It is only three feet tall and around 100 feet across and originally held 10-15 graves, although all but two were destroyed by plowing and looting. What’s significant about these burials is that the first group used hexagonal and circular stone box graves made from limestone slabs, and the bodies were tightly bound, which was unusual for the Mississippian period. (The second group placed the dead on their backs and fully extended their bodies in rectangular stone box graves which was the usual burial method. These were found nearby.) There were large shell beads, a clay pot, a mussel shell and an effigy burial vase found here. So people were buried with the items that were an important part of their lives, perhaps items they might need in the afterlife, and adornments.
Now we come to mound No. 2, which is around 7.5 feet tall and may be the most interesting of all the mounds. A structure of some sort was in this place before it was torn down, and over time the mound was raised in four other stages. The “Sacred Image House” held the remains of a sacred idol (looks to be a fertility goddess, see pic), a shrine, and traces of fire ceremonies. Another level held a metate, muller, arrowheads, shell tempered pottery, fire beds and objects made of deer bones. But the most important structure is called “the House of Mysteries” (love that name!), whose walls and roof were made from cane matting covered with a coating of clay plaster and it had two rooms. This building was probably used for sacred rites, as an altar was found with a bowl that contained ashes, and the fire was probably allowed to burn continuously without being put out. So, mound No. 2 must have been a very important site in the village, a temple for prayer, and the focus of religious worship to the six directions and the natural forces that ruled their lives. Nearby rectangular stone graves were found that belonged to the second group who lived here. These graves held a black stone female statuette, conch shells, playing dice made from deer bones, and spearheads. This group must have realized the spiritual significance of the mound to bury their dead so closely to it, and the items found are certainly interesting. Where were the conch shells acquired, through trading or travel? And gambling sure is an old pastime!
There are a large number of depressions between mounds 2 and 3 that were once houses made of cane matting and plastered walls, and there were quite a few interesting artifacts found here, including yellow ochre (probably for body paint), bear teeth (!), arrowheads, stone disks and animal bones.
From this field follow the paved path downhill and you will come to the last two mounds and home sites, as well as the Boiling Springs School.
Mound No. 1 or “Temple Mound” is by far the largest mound, standing at 25 feet tall and 185 by 160 feet across. This is the only mound that was not excavated, but it is believed to be ceremonial and that the Chief of the clan most likely lived on it. It is certainly impressive, rising up dramatically and overlooking the river. I had a really lovely sit underneath a large tree at the base of the mound, and made offerings to the ancestors and meditated for a bit. I realized that my back was to an opening in the tree that looks very much like a certain woman’s body part, and I imagined my spirit being embraced and nurtured by this lovely, huge Mama tree. (If you’d like to explore the spiritual energy of trees and forests, this blog on old-growth forests is a good place to start.) A big black ant came and sat on my thigh, and I reflected on the symbolism of this small but mighty insect. I believe the message meant for me was work hard, persevere, and collaborate with others to make things happen. I hear you Ant, thanks for the message!
Mound No. 5 is actually on the other side of the school alongside the driveway. It is the smallest mound at only 3.5 feet high, and although pottery fragments, animal bones and bone tools were found, there was no evidence of a human burial or building here.
Between the two mounds and the paved walkway to the northeast were around a dozen house circles that are now depressions and swales in the ground. It’s believed that the most important houses of the village were built in this area.
If you follow the greenway past the rest rooms it will take you very quickly to the Little Harpeth River. I found a couple of feathers there, one of which looks like a goose feather that is now part of my of collection. The Primm Greenway itself is a lovely place to walk, run or bicycle, BTW!
A note about artifacts and more recent findings from this site: Artifacts that were found with the 1920 excavations live at the Smithsonian Institution. According to this paper, in 1998 during road construction another 21 individuals and their funerary goods were recovered to the west of Pimm Park, across Moores Lane. The items included effigy jars, ceramic ear plugs, a drilled dog tooth, bone awl and projectile points. The Secretary of the Interior directed the remains to be reintered, and this was done by the Chickasaw Nation as no modern decedents have been found, although where this was done I’m not sure. A zoological examination also found hundreds of animal bone specimens near the graves, everything from opossum, deer, black bear, turkey, squirrels, dogs, coyote, red-tailed hawk, turtle and fox, and may have been part of a burial ritual called “feasting” when the dead were likely mourned and celebrated (bear, red-tailed hawk and coyote being the most special/unusual). I'm all for a feast and party to remember your loved ones! A portion of this area was also the trash heap for the village, and it seems that overall the people ate mainly deer, bear, turkey and elk; and in smaller amounts small and medium animals, birds, turtles, snakes, fish and mollusks. Boiling Spring is nearby but doesn’t appear to have been part of the excavations. I wonder if the spring was considered sacred by the villagers, and whether offerings or effigies were left at the site. Sadly, we may never know.
Part of what’s interesting about Pimm Historic Park is the fact that you can also explore the Boiling Springs Academy school house. I love historic structures that have been preserved, and looking in through the windows I was able to see the reconstructed schoolhouse, established in 1830, which is pretty neat. (You can take a virtual tour of the schoolhouse, and around 900 third-grade students come here every year to learn about history in 1845!) But here’s where I get intrigued: Why was the house built in the middle of mounds and house circles? I wondered what these early settlers must have been thinking when they looked around them and decided to put a two-story schoolhouse right in between them! Was this just because this was the land that was available to them, or did they acknowledge the history of the place, nodding to the ancients who had been before them? Looking out of the windows every day, did school children even wonder what they were looking at, or did they just think they were surrounded by hills? While the first official archaeological dig on the site wasn’t performed until 1920, the landowner in 1895 must have understood the mounds to be significant because he partially excavated the site at that time, after accidentally digging up some graves. So perhaps the teachers and students considered the site important as well?
Overall this is a great way to visit mounds and a historical site in the Nashville area that have a lot to teach us about the people who once lived here, whether Native American or early Tennessean. If you visit I'd love to hear about your impressions! The gates to the park are normally closed, but on every third Saturday you can visit at your leisure during daylight hours.
For more information about Pimm Park and other Brentwood Park locations visit Parks, Trails & Greenways | City of Brentwood (brentwoodtn.gov)
Fascinating "sacred site." And right in Nashville! This post was also a good reminder to honor those who have lived here before us, whose land we now live upon.
In too many cases around the world, land and homes have been violently wrenched away from populations to make way for "the other." As a white woman in Alabama of European descent, I'm aware I am "that other," and I don't like it.