The Hopewell: The First Michiganders

The original idea for this website was to photograph the Norton Mound Group, a collection of Native American burial mounds located in Grand Rapids, MI.  The photo-journal would then allow for discussion of the lives of the people who built them.  The mounds, and others like them, located mostly in the Ohio River Valley in Ohio and in the states of Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, and Michigan, are amongst the last remnants of the Mound Builders.^[i]  The Mound Builders, the collective name for groups of Native Americans whose main legacy is the burial mounds they left behind, includes various groups, most notably the Hopewell, a group that lived during the Middle Woodland Period.^[ii]  The Norton Mounds were left behind by the Hopewell.  

My trip to Grand Rapids to photograph the Norton Mounds led me to discover the mounds are currently not accessible to the public, as they are set to be the centerpiece of a new park currently under construction.  While I was still able to photograph another, smaller mound site in Grand Rapids, and was still able to research the lives of the Hopewell, I was disappointed that I was unable to include any photos of these hallowed grounds.  Researching this topic allowed me the opportunity to learn about the first inhabitants of the state of Michigan and the neighboring region.  Learning that many of the burial mounds that have been discovered were destroyed also caused me to engage in thought about the importance of conservation of such historic landmarks.  As a future history teacher, I hope this site will be a useful source of information to those hoping to learn more about the first people of Michigan, as well as a springboard for thought and conversation about the conservation and preservation of our historic treasures.

Definitions  *  Burial Mounds  *  Daily Life  *  Who Were the Hopewell?  *  Conservation/Preservation   *  Sources Cited   *  Links for Educators