Post by nmosley on Apr 22, 2020 13:23:43 GMT -6
In the early twentieth century, Clarence Bloomfield Moore made several expeditions along the coast of Florida to excavate and research burial mounds. He used a steamship named the Gopher and recorded his forays into Walton County where he found and excavated several mounds. Three of these were in Big Hammock -which is still a place name, but seems to have been mostly superseded by Choctaw Beach - one was in Basin Bayou, others were on Mack and Hogtown Bayou on the south shore of the Bay.
At least one of the ones in the vicinity of Big Hammock seems to have been on the west shore of Mullet Creek and around 400 yards up creek from the bay. That would put it possibly in the Lake Sharon neighborhood. The others don't have enough identifying information to try to place them.
A Smithsonian publication from 1949 mentions the Big Hammock mounds that Moore excavated, but it also says that they were not located during a 1940 survey.
Does anyone know anything further about these mounds?
Also, does anyone know when Choctaw Beach was formed as a village, and why it took a different name than Big Hammock?
At least one of the ones in the vicinity of Big Hammock seems to have been on the west shore of Mullet Creek and around 400 yards up creek from the bay. That would put it possibly in the Lake Sharon neighborhood. The others don't have enough identifying information to try to place them.
A Smithsonian publication from 1949 mentions the Big Hammock mounds that Moore excavated, but it also says that they were not located during a 1940 survey.
Does anyone know anything further about these mounds?
Also, does anyone know when Choctaw Beach was formed as a village, and why it took a different name than Big Hammock?