| Serpent Mounds Park | |
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 Burial mounds like these inspired the name of the park due to their curves resembling movement of aserpent. | |
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| Location | Keene, Ontario, Canada |
| Nearest city | Peterborough, Ontario |
| Coordinates | 44°12′33″N78°09′17″W / 44.20917°N 78.15472°W /44.20917; -78.15472 |
| Area | 1.35 km2 (0.52 sq mi) |
| Opened | 1955 (1955) |
| Closed | 2009; 16 years ago (2009) |
| Operated by |
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| Status | Closed due to decline in tourism and failing infrastructure |
| Designated | June 12, 1982; 42 years ago (1982-06-12) |
| Statute | Historic Sites and Monuments Act |
IUCN Category III (Natural Monument) | |
| Designated | 1957; 68 years ago (1957) |
| WDPA ID | 19782 |
Serpent Mounds Park is a historical place located nearKeene, Ontario, Canada. Serpent Mounds operated as a provincial park, established in 1955 through a lease with theHiawatha First Nation, of theMichi Saagiig (Mississauga Anishinaabeg). In 1982, while operating as a provincial park the mounds were designated aNational Historic Site, including East Sugar Island.[1]
From 1995 to 2009, Hiawatha First Nation operated the park privately, offering camping facilities, beach access onRice Lake, a cultural center, and interpretive walks among the historic serpent and nearby mounds. The park was closed to the public in 2009, due to the decline in the tourism and deteriorating infrastructure.[2]
Archaeological field work revealed that the construction and early occupation of the serpent mounds area occurred about 2000 years ago during theprehistoricMiddle Woodland Period. The first prehistoric peoples to occupy the site were classified by archaeologists as thePoint Peninsula complex, based on theirartifacts.
The people gathered in areas of what are now the jurisdictions of central and southeasternOntario and southwesternQuebec in Canada, and northern parts ofNew York state in the United States, to camp, hunt, fish, collect fresh water mussels, and to harvestmanoomin back to 58 BC.[2]
The nine earthen mounds located on Roach's Point were disclosed as places to bury the dead and revere the ancestors providing an exceptionally complete record of life for a period of 350 years ending about C.E.. 300; the burial mound shaped like a serpent is the only one of its kind in Canada.[1]
Serpent Mounds incorporates a 4.4-hectare area, as well as a 49-hectare area on East Sugar Island. The designated site comprises six distinct areas of archaeological interest, including the Serpent Mounds site, the Alderville site, the Island Centre site, the East Sugar Island site, the Corral site and an unnamed Site.[1]
The largest mound, known as "the serpent" for its winding outline, is 194 ft (59.1 m) long, 25 ft (7.6 m) wide, 5 to 6 ft (1.5 to 1.8 m) high, and is the only one in Canada.
The eight oval/round mounds known as "the serpents eggs" range between 23 and 48 ft (7.0 to 14.6 m) long, 1 to 4.5 ft (0.4 to 1.6 m) high. Significant items found inside the mounds, in addition tohuman remains, were shell disc beads, fossilizedcoral,fish bone hook,flint chips,copper foil beads, carvedlimestone,adze, and numerous types of animalbones.[3]
Serpent Mounds Park activities close by, include::
National Historic Sites of Canada by location | |
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