Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-05-12
Writes of am Indian Burying Ground Near Great Falls

the trail is n stone on which the m.
scription Is so faint that 1t cannot be
read. The date seems to be November
20, 1899. hut il may be 11so-1150 or
1890. All around these stones for .
radius Of nifty yards are signs OF
graves. though they arc not marked.
The trail. which WAS once a wood-road.
passes across the cemetery showing
spot when that trail was broken. The
timber in the woods is not old. but the
depth of the mold shows that IL has
hecu woodland longer than tho Oldest
tree there has lived.
This big stretch OF woodland with its
mysterious graveyard is now owned by
a Mr.. Nackall. and the Rambler assumes
that he is u. S Mackali Of Langley. son
of Gen. William Whann Mackail, who
won distinction in the United states
Army during the Mexican and Indian
wars and then served the Confederate
states. Cen. Mackall was a son OF Ben
jamin Mackall. who was appointed post
master of Washington by President
James Monroe. and who bought tho
lands of Langley. through which tho
Georgetown and LeesburG pike runs,
two and a half miles west of Chain
bridge. in 1899. from Elizabeth Lee.
The Rambler hopes to develop COR
siderable information about this forest
graveyard and the people whose ashes
lie there. The Anthropoiogical Society
of Washington held a meeting in 1883,
the aborIgines of the District of Column
bia. Those gentlemen taking part were
Otis T. Mason. w J MCGEE. s. V. Proud.
tit. w. Fl. Holmes. Elmer Il. Reynolds
and James Mooney. Drs. Mason. MCGEE
and Reynolds are no more among thu
living. Mr.. Proudfit spoke OF the sites
of Indian villages in the District OF
Columbia and Elmer Reynolds spoke OF
the shell mounds OF the Potomac and
Wicomico and of Indian remains that
Ie in
Indian burial places are difficult 70 find in this
liberated by cultivation number OF graves
discovered at Popes Greek, Nd. stbs..
collect have been DEPOSITED in the Army Meei-
cal Museum. One skull Is particularly inter-
Of Some deepsest-d disease which las not Jet
been determined.
A second cemetery was discovered at Indian
Town the Wicomico. hut n" entir. crsnia
were obtained. About three years ago hurnan
bones We're exhu,ncd from the great shell mound
at Popes Creek by III. lime burners. but l was
unable TO learn what became of them. That the
custom OF burying In she'll mounds was not rn-
common has been verified in distant Localities on
the eastern shore of til. bay, where during my re-
search I learned that four bodies had heen ~
moved from the mound Rosdiey Manor. two
from the Rolngbroke shell held ana one from
the enormous deposit ut Chancellors point
Mr., Proudht speaking on the ancient
village sites and aboriginal workshops
in the District. said that the term In
dian village was not to be understood
as signifying a place formerly occu-
pied by a compact group of dwellings.
but rather. one where their proximity
to each other was interrupted by con-
siderable spaces devoted To agricul-
ture and other purposes" He said that
a community of this character extended
along the east and south shores OF
Eastern branch from Giesboro point to
Rladensburg. Another Indian settle
ment was at Red Bank. on the west
side of the Eastern branch near the re.
form school. Another was on the tarroli
place north of Garfield Park. between
ist and I'd streets southeast. One viii
lage was on the hilltop above the vir-
ginia end of Chain bridge. one at the
south end of the Long bridge and ons
on the Virginia shore opposite the FOOT
of Analostan Island.