At it’s peak, around AD 1050, the settlement at Cahokia Mounds was the largest city in North America with a population of 10-20,000 people. Three hundred years later the area was abandoned, most likely due to a depletion of the natural resources and disease from to a diet consisting mainly of corn. Seventy mounds of various shapes and sizes are protected in the park. There’s also an excellent museum with replicas of the finely made artifacts that have been uncovered at the site.
The museum is accessible with pushbutton doors. There are ramps up to the exhibit level and down to the recreated village. Visitors in wheelchairs must enter the exit door at the theater and sit in front of the seating – a little too close. Some exhibits have information on plaques mounted on rings like giant books. It’s hard to reach these to turn the pages. A short interpretive trail, paved with smooth concrete, starts at the museum exit and loops around past some of the mounds. We viewed the large Monk’s Mound from a distance only so I don’t know if the trail leading to the bottom is accessible.
The parking lots is large enough for any RV. Museum
38.65404, -90.05865
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