Fifteen minutes from downtown St. Louis stands the largest ancient city ever built north of Mexico. Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, preserves the remains of a Mississippian metropolis that around A.D. 1100 was larger than London — home to perhaps 20,000 people, a grand plaza, and more than 120 earthen mounds.
The giant is Monks Mound: the largest prehistoric earthen construction in the Americas, rising 100 feet with a base bigger than Egypt’s Great Pyramid. Climb its terraces and the St. Louis skyline shimmers across the river — two great river cities facing each other across eight centuries. The site’s Interpretive Center tells the city’s story with a life-size diorama, and Woodhenge, a reconstructed solar calendar, marks the solstices.
It is the most awe-inspiring history in the region, and it belongs to everyone.
Cahokia Mounds is in Collinsville, Illinois. Hours and programs at cahokiamounds.org.
