Florida contains many important cultural and archaeological resources, including the Fort Walton Temple Mound, a publicly owned site that preserves information about the past and the Native American heritage of the United States. Its preservation was secured in 1959 when Thomas & Louise Brooks and William & Sarah Frances Brooks Pryor donated the mound to the City of Fort Walton, and in 1964 it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places as a National Historic Landmark. The Indian Temple Mound Museum opened in 1971, further donations supported the site over the years, and in 1976 the Florida Bicentennial Trail began at the mound, where a structure was built atop it to represent the most likely shape of the temple building that once stood there during the Mississippian Time Period. The mound is considered a sacred area by today's Native Americans and is often used for ceremonial activities, but it is foremost a cemetery where human beings lie at rest and deserves the respect given a modern cemetery. Today it faces danger from erosion after hurricanes removed the tree canopy that once protected its surface, so foot traffic on its slopes and summit has been limited, plantings help reduce soil displacement, and ground cover remains necessary to control runoff and prevent further erosion. Protected by the national government, the State of Florida, and the City of Fort Walton Beach, the site has provided archaeologists and anthropologists with extensive information about the Native American people who lived there hundreds of years ago through excavations in the 19th and 20th centuries, while much of the surrounding living area beneath downtown Fort Walton Beach remains unexamined and may still reshape understanding of the prehistoric past.