Grave Creek Mound Archaeological Complex Announces May Family Activities

 News…

MOUNDSVILLE, W.Va. – Grave Creek Mound Archaeological Complex in Moundsville announces programs and events for May. Throughout the month, visitors can enjoy activities such as Featured Artists of the Month exhibit, helping plant the Interpretive Garden, a craft activity at the museum’s Discovery Table, a film and a lecture. All programs are free and open to the public.

Schedule of May Programs:

Saturday, May 12, 1 and 3 p.m. – Second Saturday Film, “We Shall Remain: Wounded Knee” (PBS American Experience series) In 1973, Native American activists engaged in a standoff with the United States government. The siege of Wounded Knee lasted 71 days and brought national attention to the desperate conditions on the reservations.
Saturday, May 19, Noon – 4 p.m. – “Interpretive Garden Planting,” the museum’s annual planting of corn, beans, squash, and several other plants grown by prehistoric Native Americans in this area. Use a replica of a prehistoric garden hoe and take home seeds to plant in your own garden.
Thursday, May 31, 7 p.m. – Lecture Series, “East Liverpool Potters Southbound to West Virginia” by Susan Weaver, director of The Museum of Ceramics in East Liverpool, Ohio. As East Liverpool ran out of riverfront land, enterprising potters crossed the Ohio River to the “Southside” to expand or start potteries.
Discovery Table – “Make a Historic Plaque for Your Room,” historic markers commemorate important people, places and events. Create a historic plaque of your own using cardstock and other provided materials. Available all month during museum hours.
Featured Artists of the Month – Elise Young and Thelma Chambers. Young was born and raised in Moundsville. She started her first work with charcoal and soft pastels, and then delved into oil painting. Her work is on display at the Grisell Center for the Arts.
Chambers was born and raised in Pleasant Valley, Marshall County. She is self-taught in oil painting and is currently taking classes in watercolors.  Her work has been displayed at numerous county fairs and the Grisell Center for the Arts.

For more information about activities and programs at Grave Creek Mound, contact Andrea Keller, cultural program coordinator, at (304) 843-4128 or andrea.k.keller@wv.gov or visit www.facebook.com/gravecreekmound and www.twitter.com/gravecreekmound.

Visitors can also tour the complex’s many exhibits, including The Buried Past: Artifacts from West Virginia’s Wild, Wonderful History, which showcases a series of West Virginia archaeological sites selected from the curation facility, and Prehistoric West Virginia, which features casts of some of the large Ice Age animals that once roamed West Virginia and a cast of a skull of a stag moose.

Operated by the West Virginia Division of Culture and History, Grave Creek Mound Archaeological Complex features one of the largest conical burial mounds built by the Adena people between 250 – 150 B.C. and ranks as one of the largest earthen mortuary mounds anywhere in the world. Exhibits and displays in the Delf Norona Museum interpret what is known about the lives of these prehistoric people and the construction of the mound. The complex also houses the West Virginia Archaeological Research and Collections Management Facility.

Admission to Grave Creek Mound Archaeological Complex is free. The Delf Norona Museum, located at 801 Jefferson Avenue, is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and closed Sunday and Monday. Outdoor access closes at 4:30 p.m. and availability is weather permitting.

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