Caddo Mounds Prepares for Upcoming Renovations

By Tony Souther, Caddo Mounds Site Manager

It’s finally happening—the Caddo Mounds State Historic Site expansion and renovation is actually starting to become a reality! I have been the site manager at Caddo Mounds for a year, and my first meeting concerning the museum expansion and renovation was in February 2012. Since then, I‘ve lost count of the number of times I have reviewed building schematics and exhibit text. It seemed the day would never come when actual work on the building would start.

But that has changed in the last couple of months. Since November, Caddo Mounds staff has been busy turning the site’s intern residence into a temporary visitors center. Work started with removing the old carpet so the house’s sheetrock walls could be repaired and painted before new carpet was installed. All this work was completed solely by Michael Foster, Caddo Mounds’ maintenance supervisor. Staff also packed up Caddo artifacts from the exhibit and returned them to Austin in anticipation of the construction work beginning soon.

With the addition of a new maintenance technician, Scott Lewis, the maintenance crew installed track lighting, narrative exhibit panels, and a Caddo mural on the walls. They also made the temporary visitors center ADA-accessible—all by the end of the holiday season. The transition from the current museum to the temporary visitors center is almost complete, and the start of the construction process for the new renovations is slated to begin in a couple of months.

Even though the museum will be closed during the renovation, the Indian mound trail is still open to visitors. The following day programs are currently scheduled at the site this spring: 

• February 16: Dr. Cecil will discuss “How the Caddo Made Their Pottery.”
• March 20: Dr. Snowden will discuss the creation and perception of sacred places.
• April 20: Dr. Chandler-Ezell will host a program on Native American myths, and those attending will have the opportunity to make a dream catcher.

We hope to see you soon!

Caddo Mounds State Historic Site is located outside Alto, Texas, 26 miles west of Nacogdoches. The site is part of the lush Pineywoods landscape of the Texas Forest Trail Region.

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