After Poverty Point

It is unknown why the people of Poverty Point left this location and why it was not intensively utilized again for 1,800 years. After the Late Archaic period, American Indian use of the site was apparently intermittent, based on the sparse number of later artifacts found there. The construction of Mound D by the Coles Creek culture about AD 700 was the only significant addition to the earthworks, and this mound sits atop a Poverty Point ridge. European explorers later traveled along waterways around Macon Ridge, but the area was not settled until the early 1800s. The earliest land grants in the area were made through military service warrants to individuals who had seen action during the War of 1812 or other military engagements. By 1837, Philip Guier owned much of the property that would eventually become Poverty Point World Heritage Site, and it was probably during his tenure that the property was given the name Poverty Point Plantation. Confiscated Confederate maps indicate that Poverty Point was abandoned during the Civil War. The land eventually returned to farmland and remained so until the State of Louisiana bought the property in 1972 and established Poverty Point as a public park. The site was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1962 and a National Monument in 1988. In 2010, the museum was named a Smithsonian Affiliate.

Pioneer, Louisiana · United States