Oakwood Cemetery - Joliet, IL
Posted by: 
cldisme
N 41° 31.739 W 088° 03.184
16T E 412146 N 4598017
Established 1855 to intern the City of Joliet's founding fathers, this cemetery also includes a 1,000 year old Woodland Indian burial mound.
Waymark Code: WM26YB
Location: Illinois, United States
Date Posted: 09/14/2007
Views: 120
Founded in 1855, Oakwood Cemetery was the final resting place for many of Joliet's early settlers and founders. The Joliet Historical Society even hosts field trips here for scouts to earn merit badges to learn about Joliet's early history. As part of another merit earning possibility, one potential Eagle Scout listed on a geneology website 2,200 of the 18,000 burial records for the cemetery.
But this cemetery has an even earlier history. Over a 1,000 years ago, an unknown band of Woodland Indians constructed a burial mound.
The Woodland period mound currently stands approximately 4 feet high, however earlier records state it was 8 feet high. Archeological excavations could be the cause of this reduction in height.
The excavations conducted by the University of Chicago in 1928 yielded, in addition to weapons, ornaments and implements, the scattered skeletal remains of over 300 persons.
The lack of uniformity of the burials, which were characterized by both flexed and full length positions (and some with mother and child in an embrace), indicate a great number of sudden deaths, and a hurried disposal of the bodies, which were probably gathered in a heap and covered with earth.
The
Oakwood Mound is situated south of the main entrance of Oakwood Cemetery. Visitors can drive right to the site. Unfortunately, the interpretive signs for the site are missing, and it is not fenced.
Please respect this site as any other burial site you would find a cemetery.