Snake Woman’s Garden at Caddo Mounds State Historic Site
Seven years ago, on April 13th, a tornado destroyed much of Caddo Mounds State Historic Site and injured many employees and volunteers. Caddo Mounds State Historic Site is located outside of Alto, deep in the pineywoods of East Texas. The visitor’s center at Caddo Mounds suffered a lot of damage and the traditionally built grass-house was demolished. However, in the seven years since the tornado, the grass house has been rebuilt and visitor center opened again to the public. They host workshops, tours and volunteer days where visitors can learn about Caddo Indian culture. Check out their Facebook page to learn more!
In light of the tragic anniversary of the tornado damage, I wanted to tell you about the Snake Woman’s Garden at Caddo Mounds State Historic Site. The Snake Woman’s Garden was designed and planted as a teaching tool for visitors to understand the history of how the Caddo people started as a hunter-gatherer culture and evolved into a more sedentary farming culture.
At Caddo Mounds, volunteers led by Rachel Galan planted and managed a garden representative of the gardens kept by Caddo Indians over 1000 years ago. The garden follows a timeline that traces the history of Caddo and food-getting systems. When you walk in through the gate you will see some traditional foraging crops like clammy weed, goosefoot, and poke salad. Then they move to more cultivated crops such as sunflowers, Jerusalem artichokes, and tobacco. From there you will see a three sisters garden. This is a gardening style many N
ative Americans utilized. It contains three crops; squash or pumpkins growing along the ground to prevent weeds and keep the soil cooler during hot summer days, corn is planted near each squash plant to grow tall and provide support for vining plants such as tomatoes. Finally as you end your walk through the garden you will see a modern kitchen garden full vegetables and herbs.
Why is it called Snake Woman’s Garden? Legend has it that the Great Father gave the seeds of all growing things to Snake-Woman. He taught her how to plant the seeds and how to care for the plants that grew, how to harvest the vegetables and how to prepare them for food. When Snake-Woman had more seeds than she could possibly care for, she decided to give some to the people. Her two sons then traveled all over the world, to give six seeds of each kind of plant to every person. When they were giving the seeds, Snake-Woman and her sons told the people that no one, especially children must touch or even point to the plants as they grew. She said that until the seeds produced ripe vegetable or fruit, they belonged to her. If any one gathered them too soon she would send a poisonous snake to bite them! Parents told their children what Snake-Woman said, so they wouldn’t touch vegetables and fruit until they were ready for harvest.
Texas State Historical Association Article on Caddo Mounts State Historic Site
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