Moundville, Alabama

Moundville is a town in west-central Alabama spanning north-central Hale County and south-central Tuscaloosa County, with most of it in Hale County [1]. It was named for the large Indian mounds that lie within the town limits. The 2020 census counted 3,008 residents. See Tuscaloosa.

History

The first settlement, called Carthage, dates to 1823, and its charter was revoked in 1826. A hard winter in 1831 hurt the economy and population. In 1891 A. H. Griffin bought 600 acres and laid out the new town of Moundville, absorbing Carthage. A state normal school was established by 1907, the first newspaper began in 1911, and in 1914 the Southern Pickle Company of Birmingham opened operations, leading many farmers to grow cucumbers as a cash crop [1].

Economy and schools

Education, health care and social assistance employed 21.3 percent of workers in 2020, retail trade 18.2 percent and manufacturing 12.8 percent. Moundville is part of the Hale County school system, with an elementary and a high school. State Highway 69 runs through town [1].

Moundville Archaeological Park

The park preserves many Mississippian earthen mounds, includes an archaeological museum and hiking trails, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The town also has baseball, softball and football fields and an active youth athletics program [1].

Archaeological site

Mississippian people occupied the Moundville site from about AD 1000 to 1450. Twenty-nine platform mounds surround a rectangular plaza with Mound A at its center, and Mound B, just north of it, is about 58 feet (18 m) tall. The archaeological park covers 185 acres, but at its height the settlement spanned roughly 300 acres and was protected by a wooden palisade.[2]

Significance

It was the political and ceremonial center of a Mississippian chiefdom and is the second-largest classic Middle Mississippian site in the United States after Cahokia in Illinois. It stands on a bluff above the Black Warrior River in Hale County near Tuscaloosa, and the work of Clarence Bloomfield Moore at Moundville helped archaeologists develop the concept of the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex.[2]

Excavation and museum

Moore dug at the site in 1905-1906, and Walter B. Jones and David L. DeJarnette began large-scale scientific excavations in 1929; University of Alabama archaeologists led later work in the early twenty-first century. The Jones Archaeological Museum opened in 1939 and was remodeled in 2010. The site became a National Historic Landmark in 1964 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1966, and the University of Alabama administers it through its museums.[2]

FAQs

Why is it called Moundville? For the mounds within the town limits.

What is its population? 3,008 in 2020.

Sources

1. Encyclopedia of Alabama: Moundville
2. Wikipedia: Moundville Archaeological Park

Editorially reviewed by Specialty Digest Editorial TeamLast reviewed November 10, 2026Researched and drafted with AI assistanceReport an issue