This Hike Takes You To A Place Missouri's First Residents Left Behind
By Liz Oliver|Published March 21, 2018
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Liz Oliver
Author
Liz is a Missouri native with a B.A. in English from Mizzou and a M.A. in Non-Profit Administration from Lindenwood University. She works for a STL metro-area community college and enjoys writing, traveling, and indoor cycling. Her true passion is forcing her encyclopedic knowledge of Missouri facts on uninterested strangers from across the globe!
Long before European settlers arrived in Missouri, Native Americans resided in many different settlements across the Show Me State. Near the Illinois border is an amazing state historical site where you can hike to a place Missouri’s early residents left behind. The Iliniwek Village State Historical Site is a naturally beautiful area bursting with history.
There is an amazing archaeological site in northeastern Missouri. Now a Missouri State Historic Site, the Iliniwek Village area is being preserved for generations to come.
Father Jacques Marquette, a famous French explorer, documented visiting this vast village during his expedition in 1673. Marquette recorded that there were likely 300 structures in the village.
Today, the two common styles of housing are marked with logs to help visitors envision the past. A longhouse is the rectangular structure, and it provided shelter to nearly 25 people. Roundhouses were of course, round. These large oval shaped homes could also house nearly 25 people. However, there is also evidence that smaller roundhouses were built to hold single families.
The trail continues on to the banks of the oxbow lake cut off from the old Des Moines River channel. The waterways were important to the Illinois Indians that lived here. Trade was conducted on the banks of the Des Moines. The river also provided food and water for massive village.
The lake is a peaceful spot to sit and reflect about those who first inhabited this land. The Illinois Indians abandoned this village by 1677, but their impression here will last an eternity.
