The information below was prepared by a local resident, Alan Crockett. "Indians were living in the Rose Hill area since the time of the earliest Indians, called the Paleoindians. Evidence of their presence here is a rare type of projectile point called a Clovis point. Clovis points have been found in nearby Ewing and Clovis points have reportedly been found in the eastern section of the Rose Hill district.
Indian continued to travel through and hunt here up into colonial times. Southwestern Virginia and Lee County have been called a “Cultural Crossroads: by C.G. Holland, of the University of Virginia. He coined the term because of the many Indian tribes that have traveled through our area and the Cumberland Gap.
Not all Indian groups traveled through western Lee County without staying. One group did build permanent structures and became residents. The Ely Mound is a well-known example. This mound, the best preserved mound in Virginia, is a special type of mound called a “temple mound”. It is the only temple mound known in the entire state of Virginia. The Ely Mound was excavated in 1877 by Harvard University/Peabody Museum. Unfortunately, the mound caved-in, killing one person and crippling another one. The Rose-Robinson Mound is another notable mound in Lee County. "
Thank you for the wonderful write-up, Mr. Crockett! I think Mr. Crockett might write-up some more such interesting information for us, if a few folks post comments on this blog entry, saying that they'd like to read more about Rose Hill's Native American history.
You can see the Ely Mound from the four-lane. A local resident pointed it out to me. It looks like an unusual little hill. I reckon that "little hill" has been there for a long while now...
What is a "Clovis Point"?
Joan
