South Charleston Mound

Extending for 8 miles along the upper terraces of the Kanawha River floodplain, in the vicinity of modern Charleston, West Virginia, was the second largest concentration of Adena mounds and circular enclosures known. In 1894, Cyrus Thomas reported 50 mounds ranging from 3’ to 35’ in height and from 35’ to 200’ in diameter, and 8 to 10 circular earthworks enclosing from 1 to 30 acre, in this area. Stone mounds dotted the buffs above the floodplain.

The South Charleston, or Criel, mound is the second largest of the burial mounds and one of the very few mounds that remain of this once important group. (One small mound has survived in a private cemetery in South Charleston, while another—the Shawnee Reservation Mound—still exists in institute.) Criel Mound is the centerpiece of a small municipal park in South Charleston. The conical mound was originally 33’ high and 250’ in diameter. It lay equidistant between 2 “scared circles” each 556’ in diameter. The top of criel was leveled during the 19th century for the erection of a judge’s stand associated with a racetrack which circled its base. The South Charleston Mound is second largest mound surviving in West Virginia; Grave Creek Mound in Moundsville is the largest.

In 1883-84 an excavation under the auspices of the Bureau of Ethnology uncovered 13 burials at 2 different levels in the mound. Most interesting were the 11 skeletons lying on a layer of bark near the base of the mound. One body with a copper headdress lay in the middle. The other bodies were arranged 5 on each side in a semicircle with the feet directed toward the center skeleton. Each of the eastern 5 bodies had been buried with an unused lance head. Next to the northernmost one were a fish dart, three arrowheads, and some mussel shells. Nothing was found with the western 5 bodies. All 11 skeletons were apparently buried in a wooden structure about 16’ in diameter and with a conical roof.

Directions: Exit interstate 64 onto Montrose Street, go N about .15 miles to end of Montrose, then W on U.S. route 60 (MacCorkle Ave.) .5 miles to 7th Ave, then SW onto 7 Ave .1 miles to South Charleston Mound, on N side of street. Metered parking is available at the park on D Street and 7th. Ave.

For more information contact: South Charleston Chamber of Commerce, 607 D Street, South Charleston, WV 25303, 304-744-0051

Map below:



Back to mounds page

Page created and owned by: Painted Turtle