December 12, 2008 – Ka-Do-Ha Indian Village and Murfreesboro

We woke this morning to 28 degrees and a frozen water hose. Thank God our water tank was filled. It did start to warm up quickly and by 10 AM we were flowing again.

Today we visited the Ka-Do-Ha Indian Village. This village was discovered in 1964 by an amateur archeologist. It is believed to have been inhabited over 1000 years ago by the “Mound People”. The evidence discovered here showed that the mounds had various purposes – some had huts on them, some were burial sites. A picture of a mound (the buildings are to protect the excavations):

One of the excavations/burials – the “fake” bones are in the same place as the real bones were discovered:

The view from the mound:

There was also a really great museum on site that told the story of the Americas peoples from prehistoric to the 1800’s. Fascinating place and our host, Victor, was wonderful to us.

Also on site is the “Happy Prospector” Gemstone Mine so I had to get a bucket and try my luck. Did not find diamonds but found all sorts of other stones. Here I am going thru the bucket:

From there we went to Murfreesboro and went thru the shops and the gallery. The gallery was great (it is owned by Sam Johnson, the same person who owns the village). The curator, Mike, took us thru some of the pieces of precious gemstones, antique jewelry, diamonds, and Indian artifacts. He also showed us some uncut diamonds and gemstones. (And now we know a little better on what to look for when we search the field again.) He was such a wealth of knowledge.

Every one we met was just wonderful to us – what a nice little town.

We spent the afternoon at the campfire and the evening just relaxing. Our neighbor stopped by to show us what he found at the crystal mines (beautiful!) so maybe tomorrow we will go crystal mining.