ACADEMY EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM – FACTS

• The Boiling Spring Academy, (circa 1830), is a one-room school house located on Moores Lane. It serves as the center of an educational program developed by the Brentwood Historic Commission.
• The Academy, with no electricity or plumbing, opens each fall and spring to give Brentwood third-grade students a chance to step back in time 
• Students prepare for their historical experience by utilizing an activity book developed by the Brentwood Historic Commission.
• Students participate in an interactive program dressed in period clothing (pinafores for the girls, suspenders and bandannas for the boys).
• The typical school day taught by retired teachers includes penmanship and arithmetic (using slates and slate pencils), history, recitation, and a spelling bee.
• Students enjoy lunch and recess outside, playing games from the 1800’s.
• Walking around the Academy and nearby Native American Mounds emphasizes the area and its history as one of the most important historical and cultural resources in Tennessee.

NATIVE AMERICAN MOUNDS – FACTS

• From A.D. 900 to 1450, Middle Tennessee was home to Native Americans of the Mississippian culture known as Mound Builders.
• They lived in cane and clay structures, not teepees.
• They built ceremonial and burial mounds. There are five mounds in Primm Park.
• One of the towns where the Priest-Chief, his family and other important leaders lived was in Primm Park which was surrounded by a fort-like fence called a palisade.
• The chief lived on the top of the largest mound which would have been the tallest mound.
• Inside the palisade, they built four mounds, a town square, buildings, and a separate cemetery.
• Their homes were usually one room structures with a fire pit in the center for warmth in the winter and to keep insects out in the summer. They cooked outside their homes.
• They were an agricultural society planting corn, beans, squash and pumpkins.
• The Little Harpeth River would have supplied water for the village.
• They were hunters who ate mostly deer and wild turkeys because they were easier to kill with bow and arrows.
• During the 1600s this society disappeared from the area. It is not known whether they left because of disease, enemies or migration to another area due to the lack of food. The village was burned.
• Similar groups living at nearby sites (today's Brentwood Library and Meadowlake subdivision) left during the same period.
• In 1920, archaeologist William Myer conducted a scientific excavation of the mounds for the Smithsonian Institute.
• Artifacts such as arrowheads, prehistoric pottery, tools, cooking vessels, and animal bones were found at the site.

 Mound Builders and Their Prehistoric Native Towns

From 900 A.D. to about 1450 A.D. , a group of prehistoric Native Americans lived in the Brentwood area. It is assumed that two waves of migration occurred during that time with both living at some point on what is now known as Primm Historic Park. From 900-1050, those living there are known as the Mound Builders.

The Little Harpeth River is one of the reasons they came here. The river supplied water for the crops they farmed and provided fish for them to eat. The soil was also good so the crops grew well and they could feed their families.

The Mound Builders ate deer more than any other meat followed by wild turkeys. They did not eat many small animals because large deer and turkeys could feed a lot of people and were easier to kill. They also had some superstitions about small animals. They thought rabbits were too timid and believed if they ate those they would not be brave. They also noticed squirrels had curved spines and thought that they might get a disease of the spine such as rheumatism if they ate squirrel. They did eat some fish, but they didn’t really have the skills to catch a lot so it was not a big part of their diet. They grew corn, squash, pumpkins, and beans. 

We must be careful and not confuse these prehistoric Native Americans with those who came much later. These were hunters and farmers. They lived in homes made of canes (wattal) and plastered with clay (daub), not tepees, and they did not wear feathered head dresses. Each home had a fireplace dug into the ground in the center to keep it warm in winter and keep insects away in the summer. The cooking was done on an outside fire bed. They also made pottery and ceramics.

These prehistoric people lived in several villages and towns in this area. The town where the Chief, his family, and other important leaders lived and made decisions was at Primm Park. The town was surrounded by a fort like fence called a palisade. In this palisade there were four mounds, a town square, buildings, and a separate cemetery. One mound was outside the palisade.

While only one mound remains, we do know what they were like. They were of different sizes and usually very, very wide in an oval-like shape. The villagers built important homes and buildings on top of the mounds. 
The tallest, Mound #1, was 25 feet high and was probably where the Chief lived.

Mound #2 was oval shaped. Buildings were there before the mound. When they were destroyed three feet of soil was placed over them to form a mound and more buildings built. When these were destroyed, three more feet of soil was added and then more buildings. When those also were later destroyed, they built a Ceremonial house for important events. It was known as the House of Mysteries. A fire was always kept burning in an altar bowl to honor their god and for the women to come and get fire to take back to their homes. This was an eternal flame. When the ceremonial house burned down, they added more soil and made the mound taller again. As years passed and the mound was worn away with erosion and farming, there was nothing left to prove how tall it might have finally been.

Mound #3 was built on top of a small hill and was a burial mound. Instead of laying people out straight, they placed them with the knees pulled up toward the stomach. This is called flex burial. They added soil to make the mound higher as the years passed.

Mound #4 was formed because they dug dirt out in a circle to use in mound #1. What was left in the center of the circle after the digging was a four foot mound. They may have used this for an important building but there is no existing proof.

Mound #5 was outside the town. It was three feet high and oval shaped. All we know about this is that a fire bed was discovered so probably it had homes on it at one time.

These Native Americans ran their town in a very organized manner. They had rules, customs, religion and a hierarchy people followed in their behavior and celebrations.

By the 1500, they had all disappeared. The reason remains a mystery. We just don’t know exactly why- whether they died of some disease that swept through the town, moved somewhere else, or were killed by another group. Archaeologists have said the village did burn. They don’t know whether enemies burned it down or villagers fled and set it on fire. We do know they were the last of the prehistoric Native Americans to live in this area.

Because time has destroyed all but one of these mounds, it is very important that we preserve it so people who live after us can see that an important group of Americans once lived here.