Funk Heritage Center

08/27/2026

Fall tour season officially launches today with the Georgia Cyber Academy third grade! Welcome to the Funk Heritage Center and Bennett History Museum!

08/26/2026

08/26/2026

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📌 Fort Mountain Stone Enclosure — Murray County, Georgia
📍 34°46′52.44″N, 84°42′32.65″W

The name "Fort Mountain" suggests a defensive wall. Look closely, and it may not have been built to defend anything at all.

High on Fort Mountain in northwestern Georgia is an ancient stone wall stretching roughly 885 feet across the mountaintop. Built from locally gathered stone, it follows an irregular, zigzagging course through the forest, reaching 3 to 10 feet high and 4 to 16 feet wide in places, with several major breaks or gateways and numerous depressions along its length. Exactly who built it, when, and why remains genuinely uncertain.

The wall was first documented as early as 1849, and 20th-century archaeological investigation concluded it was a prehistoric Native American construction. Limited excavations, though, never turned up historic or prehistoric artifacts that could pin down a firm date. Archaeologists have suggested a possible Woodland-period origin, somewhere between about 500 BC and AD 500, but nothing precise has ever been established.

Despite the mountain's name, researchers have actually questioned whether this wall was a fortification at all. Its many bends don't line up especially well for defense, and parts of it simply incorporate natural rock outcrops rather than forming a deliberate defensive perimeter. The National Register nomination described it as "more of a marker than a fortification," separating the mountain's northern peak from its southern end.

One possibility is that the wall served some kind of ceremonial or symbolic purpose tied to the mountain itself, but without more archaeological evidence, its original function is still unknown. This uncertainty has produced some colorful legends over the years, one attributing it to the legendary Welsh prince Madoc, another tying it to the "moon-eyed people" of Cherokee tradition, with other theories ranging from Spanish explorers to later Cherokee use. None of those stories has any archaeological support, and the strongest evidence still points to a pre-contact Native American origin.

This is one I've had a lot of requests for, and it's genuinely one of the more unusual archaeological features looked at with LiDAR. Much of the enclosure is hidden beneath dense mountain forest, but strip that vegetation and portions of the wall's long, irregular path become visible across the terrain, letting you see how it relates not just to the ground right around it, but to the shape of the entire mountaintop.

Today the wall is protected within Fort Mountain State Park, which takes its name from this ancient and still poorly understood feature. After nearly two centuries of people documenting and debating it, we know the wall was intentionally built, but the reason a nearly 900 foot of stone wall was constructed across the top of this Georgia mountain remains a genuine mystery.

08/26/2026

𝗔𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀 & 𝗚𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆 𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗻𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗚𝗲𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗶𝗮 𝗔𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝗦𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗱𝗮𝘆, 𝗢𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟯!

Choose between two different ways to spend the day:

𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝟭: 𝗛𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀-𝗢𝗻 𝗚𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗽
Bring your own family history questions and spend the day working on your research with guidance from genealogist Laura W. Carter and Georgia Archives staff. Registration is required, space is limited, and the cost is $30.

𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝟮: 𝗚𝗲𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗶𝗮 𝗚𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲𝘀
Hear from the Georgia Archives, Digital Library of Georgia, and Georgia Public Library Service about the records, collections, and online resources they offer for genealogy research. This track is free, and walk-ins are welcome.

Learn more about both tracks, see the full schedule, and register here: tinyurl.com/ArchivesGenealogyDay2026.

08/26/2026

Nations of Renewal By Kimberly Burk - July 22, 2026 The Choctaw Nation's growing bison herd reflects a broader commitment to preserving cultural traditions while investing in education and tourism for future generations. Photo courtesy Choctaw Nation Across Oklahoma, tribal nations are expanding eco...

08/26/2026

Vast stands of rivercane once covered thousands of acres along Tennessee's rivers and streams. These remarkable plants provided building materials, arrows, baskets, mats, blowguns, fishing equipment, and countless other necessities for generations of Native people.

Today, only scattered canebrake remnants remain—including a stand growing at Sellars Farm State Archaeological Area.

This Saturday, join us for another guided tour exploring the history, ecology, and cultural importance of one of Tennessee's most overlooked native plants.

You may never look at a patch of rivercane the same way again.

Saturday, August 29, 2026
9:30 AM CDT
Free and open to the public
Sellars Farm State Archaeological Area
445 Poplar Hill Rd, Lebanon, TN 37090
See the comments for a link to register for the tour.
Learn more about Tennessee's Native history on the Native History Association website.

08/25/2026

Rest in peace.

08/25/2026

UPDATED!
Thank you to Matthew Gramling for this flyer promoting this year's 29th Annual Trail of Tears Association Conference & Symposium!! Sept. 28 - 30, 2026
Reservations at Embassy Suites and registration for the conference are now available at the National TOTA website.

08/20/2026

10 days until "Conquistadors and Chiefdoms" at Audubon Acres!

History Hike by Ava Lowery: 2 - 4 pm
Lecture by Ava Lowery: 4:30 - 6 pm

Tickets are available here:

https://www.chattanoogaaudubon.org/little-owl-lecture-series-2026.html