Dowhait’s (or Free) Bridge Mound – National Register of Historic Places Inventory – Nomination Form

This is a mound and village site about a half mile down the Etowah River from the larger Etowah Mounds. This site is on the opposite side, south, from the large mounds. In 1938-9 when Dr. Robert Wauchope visited the site, the mound was slightly more than six feet high and about 85 feet long and 85 feet wide. It sits beside the river, just below a metal bridge. In 1938-9, the land owner preserved the mound because it helped protect his fields from river floods. Dr. Wauchope was given permission to dig one trench through the mound, parallel to the river. The excavation showed that the mound was constructed in six stages. The traces of a rectangular house about 17 feet wide were found in the red clay below the first stage of the mound. Over this, a red clay platform was constructed to support a building; there were also indications that the level above this was similar. Above that, the mound had been cut away by plowing but Dr. Wauchope found that the mound had been enlarged at least three more times.

The site was occupied from the Woodland period, roughly 200 B.C., to the Lamar period, about 1600. The mound did not contain any Lamar pottery and the indication, from the pottery found, was that it belonged to the Savannah pottery phase which was considerably earlier. Dr. Wauchope did not find other evidence of the village.  The mound now is several feet lower than it was in the 1930's. The land has been purchased by a corporation, apparently for speculation. His mound was tested briefly 30 years ago with limited objectives in mind. The site obviously is extremely important to the cultural history of the Etowah Valley and probably an even greater area. Its connection with the Etowah Mounds, a National Historic Landmark, has not been explored. The village, suggested by Dr. Wauchope, has not been defined. This site is related to the final aboriginal occupation at the Etowah Mounds. The land is now for sale. All archeological sites in southern Bartow county are endangered by rapidly expanding commercial and industrial interests.