Angel Mounds State Historic Site

Historic Sites

Angel Mounds State Historic Site is a 603-acre wildlife preserve and village site of prehistoric Native Americans in the United States. It is one of the 16 state museums and historic sites in Indiana and is named after the Angel family who settled in this location along the Ohio River in the early 1800s.

Located near Evansville in Vanderburgh County, the site is part of the Indiana Department of Natural Resources - a division of the Indiana State Museums and Historic Sites. Also a National Historic Landmark, Angel Mounds contains a new Native American Museum and Educational Center.

For over a thousand years, southwestern Indiana was home to many Native Americans. A town in Angel Mounds was home to the people of the Middle Mississippian culture during the time from A.D. 1100 to 1450. They were engaged in hunting and farming on the rich bottom lands of the Ohio River.

As Angel Mounds was a chiefdom, it was the regional center of a large community that grew outward from it for many miles. This settlement was the largest known town of its time in Indiana. Thus, the preservation and archaeological efforts at Angel Mounds State Historic Site offer a glimpse into this highly developed culture of the distant past. This living museum, over the past 60 years, tells the story of one pre-contact Native American culture on the Ohio River.

Exhibits in Angel Mounds Interpretive center include a winter and summer house as well as a scaled version of the stockade wall, complete with a wall patcher. The figures depicted are that of making meals, hunting, and playing games in the new gallery. Information cases are scattered throughout the gallery, detailing particulars of life in the community. Artifacts recovered from the site are also on display.

In addition to its historical importance, Angel Mounds State Historic Site is also a great place for a wedding, reception, or office meeting. Educational group programs, guided tours of the village site, and special flora and fauna tours of Ashumbala State Nature Preserve are some of the programs available at Angel Mounds.

The gift shop in the museum provides items and books related to Native American Culture and the Mississippian Indian Nations.