Florida Historical Markers Programs - Marker Detail

Description: Seven hundred years ago, the rolling country around Tallahassee was the seat of one of the most advanced Indian cultures of Eastern North America. The society was organized into classes, the highest of which consisted of chiefs and their families. The main chief lived at the place now called Lake Jackson Indian Mounds. Less important chiefs lived at smaller sites, one of which was located directly across the lake from here on Rollins Point. The Indians constructed large flat-topped earthen mounds at places like these, then built their important structures on top. The ordinary people in society were farmers, who grew corn, beans, and squash. They lived in houses near their fields, but they visited the chiefs from time to time in order to participate in religious ceremonies and to donate food or labor. The Indians of this area traded with people as far away as the Great Lakes. Chiefs used some trade items, such as embossed copper plates and carved shell pendants, as badges of office. The descendants of these people still lived nearby and called themselves Apalachee when Desoto passed through this area in 1539.