WV Prison and Grave Creek Mound

After visiting the Palace of Gold and the New Vrindaban Temple, we needed to get something to eat. While there was a cafe at New Vrindaban, it was Indian cuisine which is too spicy for our palettes. So we headed for the nearest town of much size, Moundsville, WV.

Middle Section of the West Virginia State Penitentiary

Right Half of the Penitentiary - it is huge!

We drove around the historic downtown area and came across the old West Virginia penitentiary which is quite an impressive facility extending over 8 blocks. It closed as a penal institution in 1995 and is now a tourist attraction and training facility. We looked for a place to park to take some pictures and realized the Grave Creek Mound, a huge Indian burial mound, was right across the street. So we parked in the Grave Creek Mound Archaeological Complex Museum parking lot, took our pictures of the penitentiary and then went into the Museum.

The museum and research facility has a number of exhibits focusing on Indian burial practices and the specific details of the Grave Creek Mound. It's interesting that despite the height of this mound, there are only a few burials in the mound.

Grave Creek Mound