Parked at Home 2026, 5 Effigy Mounds National Monument
On Wednesday, April 16 from 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., I watched another installment to the “Parked at Home” webinar series, this time featuring Effigy Mounds National Monument in northeastern Iowa. The program was hosted by Ranger Allison Horrocks, with Ranger Susan Snow joining live from the monument itself, which Ranger Allison jokingly described as “only about an 18-hour car ride” from the Blackstone River Valley . Spanning roughly 2,500 acres in the Upper Mississippi River Valley , the park preserves more than 200 earthen mounds set within a landscape shaped by water, time, and human memory. In contrast to the 46-mile Blackstone River, the Mississippi River stretches over 2,300 miles, producing rich soil that has long supported agriculture. As author Robert Macfarlane observed, “No landscape speaks with a single tongue”, a fitting lens for understanding the area.