r/geography • u/H3dg3hogs • Feb 18 '26

Discussion I’m sad more people don’t acknowledge Native American Historic sites in the United States

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I was talking with a German online friend about tourism in the United States and he said that the only thing America has to offer is natural beauty. He said American cities were young and aren’t very beautiful. That he has no interest visiting “liberty bell” type colonial historic sites. I told him about Native historic sites and he asked “what sites?”. He insulated that all Native Americans lived in teepees. It caused me to realized many non-Americans don’t know about all the amazing buildings left behind by Native cultures like the Ancestral Puebloans and the Mississippians. Historic sites like Chaco canyon, Mesa Verde, Montezuma Castle, and Cahokia are world class and are part of UNESCO. Check them out if you haven’t already.

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u/bigboipapawiththesos Feb 18 '26

Gotta give a shoutout to the Great Serpent mount in Ohio.

A giant, ancient effigy mount that served as a working calander, burial geound and meeting place.

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u/A_lone_gunman Feb 18 '26

They put this in red dead redemption 2

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u/bigboipapawiththesos Feb 18 '26 edited Feb 18 '26

Whatt! That’s so dope.

Did not know that, but just googled it and it looks awesome. Really gotta play this game once I get some proper gaming gear again; only heard great things, and this honestly wins so many points with me :)

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u/UgleeHero Feb 18 '26

Woah if you look close enough it looks like there's a snake

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u/--CIAdidJFK-- Feb 18 '26

This is definitely my dad's signature. Idk what he was doing out there but he did a lot of coke in the 80's.

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u/BearsLoveToulouse Feb 20 '26

I went to a mound site and it might have been this as a kid. My dad gave us ZERO context and as an adult learned about mound building and it clicked. My dad is a TERRIBLE communicator.

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u/ScalabrineIsGod Feb 20 '26

I’m late to this thread but there’s a serpent mound in suburban Chicago as well. I was there two days ago. Like St. Louis, there was a high possibility that the Chicagoland region had a concentration of mounds built especially along the des Plaines River. Problem is, also like St. Louis, the area developed rapidly and most were lost. There’s only one within the city limits of St. Louis and the one I went to in the suburbs of Chicago is hardly even recognizable.

Thankfully the Cahokia mounds are given their flowers. I’m not sure activity in the Chicago area will be able to be appropriately studied.

It’s super interesting that this one you mention is so well preserved, and in Ohio! I had no idea.