Old Mounds are Evidence of Indian Villages in Georgia
Discoveries inside the Mounds
Pictured is Refuge Plantation, Woodbine, Georgia (ebay.com).
Have you wondered what was beneath the burial grounds found across the country? As one travels through the heavily wooded Woodbine countryside in Camden County, Georgia, evidence of the intermittent “burn-offs” of the forest lands may be viewed. Trespassing upon the dreams of a past era of cotton fields and Indian villages is an eerie feeling.
A typical Indian burial mound was found on the old Woodbine Plantation in Camden County, Georgia, near the Satilla River (Bedell’s Landing).
About one-quarter of a mile south of the landing is a symmetrical mound 4 feet 9 inches tall and 40 feet across the base. Several large hickory trees are left standing on the eastern side. The site was found on the old Woodbine Plantation, owned by the Bailey family until James K. Bedell acquired it in 1876. The original home, built about 1810, was burned in 1862 by blockade troops.
The mound was composed of light-brownish sand with a slight admixture of clay. A vertical section of the mound from the summit plateau, where traces of human handiwork ended, was six feet high. The usual fireplaces and charcoal admixture with the sand were encountered. At an earlier period, the mound probably lost some of its height and was disturbed over the years.
The mound had probably lost some height in earlier times and had been considerably disturbed in recent years by its use as a burial site.
One skeleton, the bones of which still had a raw appearance, had, near the pelvis, two brass buttons belonging to an old-fashioned “dress coat, while another had iron nails, probably belonging to the coffin, in dost proximity. The intrusive skeletons were buried at length, and considerable care had been bestowed in the arrangement of the bodies, in one instance, the hands being folded at the waist.
Original burials numbered about two dozen and were so severely decayed that, in the case of some, the method of interment was not determinable. The bones were found in anatomical order when unmistakably identified in terms of position.
In some cases, local layers of sand dyed with the red oxide of iron lay immediately above the bones. At two points in the mound, pockets made up of fragments of calcined human bones were present. No earthenware vessels were found.
In a central portion of the mound, 5 feet from the surface, near human remains, was an undecorated tobacco pipe of earthenware of a type familiar to the mounds of the lower thirty miles of the St. John’s River and other sections, where the aperture for the stem rivals that of the bowl in size. [Note: This type of pipe was also discovered in a mound at Point La Vista in Duval County, Florida.]
A graceful lance-point of chert lay with a skeleton about 4 feet from the surface. Chert is a sedimentary rock rich in silica used to produce weapons such as knives and spears. It can also make fire since it creates a spark that can ignite a flame when rubbed.
Two polished “celts” lay with burials 1 foot and 2.5 feet from the surface. A small hammerstone and a portion of a pebble were with the pipe to which reference has been made. Loose in the sand was an arrowhead of chert.
Presumably, chert is in the Woodbine region of Georgia.
Loose in the sand, throughout the mound, were several conchs (Fulgur] and fragments of conch shells. Shell beads were discovered in burials. A little over one foot below the surface, over the ribs of the skeleton of a child, was a gorget of shell, irregularly oval in form, 4.5 inches by 5.5 inches. Near the upper margin is a perforation for suspension. A blow from a spade had destroyed a companion to this perforation received at the time of discovery. The concave surface of this gorget shows traces of intricate incised decoration, the exact pattern of which is no longer apparent. Less than one foot from the surface, with human remains, were two stopper-shaped objects of the shell.
Mounds Investigated.
Fairview, Camden County (2).
Crescent, Mclntosh County.
Woodbine, Camden County.
Owen's Ferry, Camden County.
Brunswick. Glynn County (2).
Lawton's Field. Darien. Mclntosh Co.
Townsend Mound. Darien, McIntosh Co.
Cat Head Creek, Darien, McIntosh Co.
The Thicket.” Mclntosh County.
Shell Bluff. Mclntosh County.
Creighton Island, Mclntosh County
Hopkins Mound, Belleville. Mclntosh Co.
Walker Mound. Mclntosh County.
Contentment, Mclntosh County.
Broro Neck. Mclntosh County.
Sapelo Island. Mclntosh County (o).
Bahama, Mclntosh County (2).
Laurel View, Mclntosh County (2).
St. Catherine’s Island, Liberty Co. (7).
Ossabaw Island. Bryan County (U). Skiddaway Island, Chatham County.
The above account is taken from CERTAIN ABORIGINAL MOUNDS OF THE GEORGIA COAST BY CLARENCE B. MOORE, published in Philadelphia in 1897.
Click on the link below to discover Camden County, Georgia residents' old wills, estates, and marriages.
Written by Jeannette Holland Austin. Author of 100+ genealogy books. Owner of 8 genealogy websites available by subscription.
