Unfortunately, folks are confusing the State Park and Reservoir with the State Historic (Archaeology) sites. The are very different and about 14 miles apart. The state park is for boating and camping. It is nice but not the attraction to be reviewed here. The historic site is amazing, but you may not be impressed unless you take the time to study and understand the site. Visually, it is not something to remember, but what happened here is amazing. The area was occupied 1500 BCE. That is a long time ago. So, go check out this place, study it, and appreciate it.
Even though Poverty Point is out in the middle of no where, it is an interesting drive. At the site there are very nice, clean bathrooms, vending machines with water and small, but well done, museum. if you aren't interested in ancient history or archaeology you won't enjoy this attraction. It is amazing to be in the middle of the site and realize it was constructed sometime between 1650-700 BC. Of course there are no structures left, but there are ridges and mounds made of dirt. To see the whole site, you can either take a guided tour on a tram, walk a 2 mile trail, or go by your car with a booklet explaining each stop. We chose to on in our car. Was the right choice for us to go at our pace. A small hike up to the top of the highest mound is well worth it, even in the heat of day. It is a good idea to bring sunscreen and mosquito repellant. I have never seen so many mosquitos.
This place should be MUCH better known than it is. For anyone who still entertains the myths that pre-Columbian America was simple and unsophisticated, this place gives the lie. Take the tour with the ranger: without the tour, you may miss what makes this place so compelling!
Our timing was good we were told there was a tour later in the afternoon, so we were going to watch the video they showed,,,but the video was NOT IN CLOSED CAPTIONED,, deaf people who plan to visit this site, this place is NOT ACCESSIBLE.. the tour is not interpreted... hubby enjoyed it tho ...the museum exhibits were quite nice,, it is a nice area really and welll kept...
While this is clearly an important historical site, there's really nothing to see or do here. There's a visitor. Center and a small museum with some artifacts. As for the site itself, it's a little more than a hill that you can climb. There is a little known about The site or its history, culture, biology, etc.Much of it is just speculation. Hard to recommend it.
Saw the brown signs along the highway and decided to visit. It was an interesting place. The movie at the museum was very informative. Never knew these earthworks had existed. Had choice of tram tour, driving tour or walking tour. It's about a 2 mile tour. Took driving tour. You can get out and walk up one of the mounds. It was very good.This is worth seeing.
We reserved a cabin at the Poverty Point Reservoir for the night of 2/16 and decided to drive the few extra miles up the road to see the earth mounds of the native americans from 1000 to 1700 years ago so we and our two teenagers could learn something along the way. The park is only 10 to 15 miles north of I-20.Unfortunately it was very cold and rainy that day and we stayed in the car and drove around the park site reading the handout the ranger gave us at the visitor station and the signs from the car.This would have been much better to have hiked around the area and up the Main mound (bird formation) but the weather was too bad.Bring some comfortable walking shoes and plan to hike around for a more meaningful experience.There was an interesting video in the park ranger visitor center and many interesting dsiplays to read about the history of the place and the people.Now this is an UNESCO world heritage site.But the fee to tour around is only $2 / person state park entrance fee.
Very interesting story to be told here! One of the oldest known sites of a large civilization that existed well before recorded time. They lived, traded and travelled widely, built ceremonial mounds, and then left! So much is still unknown of these people, but what is known is so compelling that it boggles the mind to imagine that such a large society" just vanished". Take the walking tour along with the self guide brochure to explain each marker along the route. A comfortable 2 hours through fields and wood plots with streams and mounds throughout. About halfway through, you will get to climb the steps of the largest mound to view the bird design in the earth. It's at this spot that you will see the immense size of the ring of mounds. The museum is small but gives a good overview and some pretty good static displays too. "This could really be big if it gets recognition as a world heritage site!"
There's a small museum which should be visited before or after a tour of the mound site. And the video should be viewed before setting out for the mounds. I did a walking tour. The site is impressive in its magnitude, though most of the mounds have been greatly eroded by time and reduced intentionally in modern times. The site was occupied by Archaic Indians at least 3500 years ago. They may have been hunter-gatherers. But may also have been fishers because of the site's proximity to the river. Probably the site was a trading point.
Poverty Point Earthworks in northeastern Louisiana offers a family friendly look into history. Across the United States there are Indian burial mounds but these mounds were for living spaces and they are well preserved. The park museum offers both a documentary film and an informative 45 minute tram ride. Poverty Point has recently been nominated to become a UNESCO World Heritage site.