Sarah Goes to Giant City Stonefort

On September 10th Sarah and I decided to go to Giant City State Park and check out the Stonefort, which coordinates are at 37.6050502 and -89.1884151. It was such a nice day and an outdoor activity that we decided to invite my dog, Rory, with us. Rory and Sarah were quick to be friends they have a lot in common. They both like to go to historical sites, meet new people, and sniff out new areas. This made the 11.01 mile car ride a breeze, literally, they both stuck their heads out the windows.

Once we arrived we read the sign on the 1/3 of a mile trail and discovered that the stone wall is 285 feet long. This was most likely built between 400 and 900 AD. by the Lewis people. Sarah, Rory, and I became intrigued quickly and wanted to find out more. We started off on the hike once we go to the top of the bluff we came across another sign. This one was more informational and a picture of it is posted on the left.

We found out that there are at least 10 other sites that are similar to this one in southern Illinois. Archaeologists do not know what the stonefort was used for because there is no evidence of fighting. I quickly made a comparison of Stonehenge and the stonefort because they are both areas that have heavy stones, the stones at the stonefort can weigh over 200 pounds, and archaeologists are not quite sure why they were built. The stonefront was most likely used for social and sacred events.

Sarah, Rory, and I also found out that the wall was found first in 1883 and there were many artifacts found then. The wall was dismantled by the early 1900's. The Civilian Conservation Corps rebuilt the wall in the 1930's. The wall appears to have been eroded or dismantled again the wall is not as high as it is when they were rebuilding the wall. Sarah, Rory, and I had a lot of fun and learned all about the stonefort. Once we were done we hopped back into the car and talked about what we just learned.