Jackson Purchase Historical Society

Jackson Purchase Historical Society Minutes, July 28, 2012. Mayfield, Kentucky.

President Gilbert Mathis called the meeting to order. The minutes were presented and Bob Lochte moved we accept the minutes.

A report from The Trustees was given.

A $75 donation was earmarked for a Marshall County Roadside Marker.

The Feliciana 94 Marker is missing and William Wells will look into this.

An election of Officers for the coming year was held and Board approved:
President – Bob Lochte
Vice-President – Charles Bobbitt
Secretary – Kate Reeves
Treasurer – Marvin Dowling
Journal Editor – Sarah Strange
Member- at- large – Marion Claybrook, member- at- large.

Melissa Earnest moved we accept the slate of officers and it was “a done deal.”
The meeting was adjourned.

A program was given by Chris Wooldridge, on the Wooldridge Monuments in Mayfield. The group then went out to tour the Wooldridge Monuments.

Chris Wooldridge was also given a complimentary membership to the Society.

The November meeting will be held on the first Saturday in that month and will be at the Weldon Public Library, 100 Main Street, Martin, Tennessee. The program will be titled, “Demographics and the Census in that part of West Tennessee.”

Wickliffe Mounds State Historic Site will host a ceremony Thursday, August 23, to acknowledge the reburial of excavated remains and restoration of the burial mound. The 10 a.m. program will include officials from the Chickasaw Nation and the Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet.

Wickliffe Mounds is an archaeological site of a Native American village of the Mississippian culture. The site was first excavated in the 1930s by a private owner, revealing numerous burials that were placed on public view.

Murray State University took over the site in 1983 and sponsored archaeological field schools and scientific research under the direction of a professional archaeologist, Dr. Kit Wesler.

In 1991, after the passage of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, the remains were taken from public view and the cemetery exhibit was updated with new interpretive information, including replicas of a few burials. Forensic studies of the remains were performed and consultations with Native Americans began.

In 2004, the site was transferred to the Kentucky Department of Parks and became a state historic site. The remains were kept in a secure area until consultations with Native American tribes, archaeologists and further documentation could be completed.

The Chickasaw Nation has been working with Wickliffe Mounds representatives, Kentucky State Parks, other Native American tribes, archaeologists from Murray State University and the Kentucky Heritage Council for some time on an agreement for a reburial of the remains.

“It is gratifying to reach this agreement, because we have a solemn responsibility to see that our ancestors are treated with the respect they deserve,” said Chickasaw Nation Governor Bill Anoatubby.

The cemetery mound project included a reburial of the Native American remains and reconstruction of the original burial mound. The Chickasaw Nation, a federally recognized tribe that has taken the leading role in consultations with Wickliffe Mounds and Kentucky State Parks, oversaw the reburial in June 2011. Wesler, of the Department of Geosciences, Murray State University, provided the archaeological support.

The park continues to develop new interpretive information to tell the story of the Mississippian people who occupied the site at Wickliffe Mounds nearly a thousand years ago, creating an educational park for all visitors to experience today.

The public is invited to attend the ceremony, which will include the Chickasaw Nation Dance Troupe. Marcheta Sparrow, secretary of the Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet; Elaine Walker, commissioner of the Department of Parks; and Jefferson Keel, Lt. Governor of the Chickasaw Nation, are scheduled to attend, along with the staff and volunteers of Wickliffe Mounds State Historic Site.

The August 23 ceremony and museum admission are free of charge.

Wickliffe Mounds State Historic Site has a museum, welcome center, gift shop, picnic area and walking trail and is located at 94 Green St. in Wickliffe, on the Mississippi River’s Great River Road National Scenic Byway. The park is open Wednesday through Sunday, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. For more information, call 270-335-3681 or email wickliffemounds@ky.gov. Please visit their website at www.parks.ky.gov .