Cahokia
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Cahokia

Cahokia

Historic Mississippi settlement with French colonial sites, including Holy Family church and the old courthouse.

One of the earliest European settlements on the central Mississippi, dating to 1699 when French missionaries built a log church here. By the 1740s Cahokia was a thriving trading post, but the French and Indian War scattered much of the population to St. Louis and Ste. Genevieve. It later became the first seat of St. Clair County and served as an administrative center reaching all the way to the Canadian border.

The two main historical sites are within a short walk of each other. The Church of the Holy Family, built with the same upright-log technique the French brought from Canada, is one of the oldest surviving churches in the United States and still an active parish. The Old Cahokia Courthouse, a reconstructed French Colonial house from around 1740, was the seat of American territorial government for a vast frontier region and is the oldest surviving courthouse in the country. The Nicholas Jarrot Mansion, an early Federal brick house from around 1810, shows what happened to the French settlements when American money arrived.

The better-known Cahokia Mounds — the pre-Columbian city that gives the region its name — are about 8km to the north in the Collinsville area and make for a essential excursion. The mounds and St. Louis across the river are both visible on a clear day from the Mississippi bank.

Guide

Day Trips

The most important excursion from Cahokia is to Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site, about 8km north in the Collinsville area. This is the site of the largest pre-Columbian city north of Mexico — at its peak around 1100 CE, it had a population of 10,000 to 20,000 people and covered nearly 16 square kilometres. The great Monks Mound, the largest earthwork in the Americas, rises 30 metres from the surrounding plain. There is an excellent interpretive museum on site. The mounds are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Across the Mississippi, St. Louis is visible from Cahokia and easily reached in 15 minutes. The Gateway Arch and its museum, the City Museum, and the many neighborhoods of St. Louis are all within easy reach.

Guide

Things to Do

Cahokia is a small town with a large history. The French colonial relics — the courthouse, the log church — are among the oldest surviving structures in the Mississippi Valley and require only a short visit, but they reward attention. The nearby Cahokia Mounds, the pre-Columbian city that gave this region its name, is a different and larger experience entirely, and can be combined in a half-day excursion from either Cahokia or St. Louis.