Romney Indian Mound | |
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![]() Romney Indian Mound, as photographed in 2005 | |
General information | |
Location | Indian Mound Cemetery |
Town or city | Romney, West Virginia |
Country | United States |
Coordinates | 39°20′33″N 78°45′57″W / 39.342446°N 78.765853°W |
Romney Indian Mound
The Romney Indian Mound is located within Indian Mound Cemetery in Romney, West Virginia. [1] It is about 245 feet (75 m) west-southwest from the cemetery's entrance gate, with a gravel access road located immediately to its north. [2] Together, the eponymous mound and cemetery are located about 0.5 miles (0.80 km) west of downtown Romney, atop the 150-foot (46 m)-tall Yellow Banks promontory overlooking Sulphur Spring Run below and the South Branch Potomac River valley to the west. [1] [2] [3] The Yellow Banks are covered in forests, which ring the cemetery's perimeter to the west and south. [2] [3] Mount Pisgah Benevolence Cemetery lies downhill and southwest of the mound. [2] [3] A West Virginia highway marker is located approximately 262 feet (80 m) east of the mound along the Northwestern Turnpike ( U.S. Route 50/ West Virginia Route 28) and features a brief description and history of the mound. [2] [4] The Northwestern Turnpike traverses Town Hill to the mound's south. [2] [3]
The Romney Indian Mound is situated approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) east of Mill Creek Mountain, a narrow anticlinal mountain ridge that rises westward from the South Branch Potomac River. [3] The western foothills of South Branch Mountain rise to the east of Romney. [3] [5] [6] Both mountains are covered with Appalachian-Blue Ridge forests of hardwoods and pine. [7] Valley View Island, an island in the South Branch Potomac River just north of the mouth of Sulphur Spring Run, is approximately 1,750 feet (530 m) north of the mound. [2] [3]
The Romney Indian Mound measures 7 feet (2.1 m) in height, [1] and 15 feet (4.6 m) in diameter. [8]
The Smithsonian Institution estimates the mound's origin to date from the Late Woodland period, which spanned from 500 to 1000 CE. [1]
The Boston Globe referenced the eponymous mound and cemetery in a 2013 article on George Preston Marshall, the former owner of the Washington Redskins professional American football team. [9] The article detailed Marshall's naming of the Redskins team and upon noting his burial in Indian Mound Cemetery, the article stated, "Something about Indians will be with him forever." [9]
The mound has never been excavated. [1]
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Category:Archaeological sites in West Virginia Category:Hopewellian peoples Category:Indian Mound Cemetery Category:Mounds in West Virginia Category:Native American history of West Virginia Category:Northwestern Turnpike Category:Romney, West Virginia