Change Is In The Wind At Cahokia Mounds, As Supporters Try Again For National Park Status

The National park status would give Cahokia Mounds a higher tourism profile, Lori Belknap, executive director of the Cahokia Mounds Museum Society said.  The site gets no state funds for marketing, so the museum society relies heavily on social media to spread the word. A few years ago, for example, volunteers turned to crowdfunding to raise $7,500 to print brochures. 

For now, Lori Belknap is celebrating a smaller win: A $100,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to develop the prototype for an educational app. It would allow visitors to point their smartphones or cameras at the mounds and see virtual structures built by the Mississippians superimposed on the modern landscape.  Belknap likened the app to Pokemon Go.

“That will really do a lot to bring awareness to the site and a better understanding,’’ Belknap said. “We’re hoping this will give people a whole new insight into what was really there.”