GPS
Coordinates: Latitude: 32.320722 Longitude: -91.080361
Driving Directions:
— From I-20 (exit 173), head east on La 602. Go 6.9
miles to marker on right.
— From I-20 (exit 182), head south-southwest on La 602.
Go 4.0 miles to marker on left. |
| Number
of Mounds: 2 |
Number
of Visible Mounds: 2 |
| Summer
Viewing: Poor, and distant |
Winter
Viewing: Good, but distant |
 Only
two mounds remain of what was once an impressive seven-mound complex
at Fitzhugh. First described and illustrated in Ancient Monuments
of the Mississippi Valley by Squire and Davis in 1848, it’s
perhaps the first documented prehistoric mound site in Louisiana.
Originally, at least four mounds formed a plaza, and two of them
had ramps that led to their summits. The largest mound was almost
30 feet tall. A 3-foot-high causeway 75 feet wide extended west
about 2,700 feet from one of the mounds; that mound was later
used for fill to build Interstate 20. Only two mounds remain (Md.
B and Md. D); the other mounds and causeway have been plowed extensively
and are no longer visible. One of the remaining mounds (Md. B)
is 10 feet tall; the other (Md. D) is just under 4 feet high and
serves as an active historic cemetery. Prehistoric ceramics suggest
the mounds date to AD 1200–1541 (Plaquemine/Mississippi
period).
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