Friends of Caddo Mounds Honored for Grass House Rebuild Project
The Friends of the Texas Historical Commission and the Texas Historical Commission (THC) recognized a friends’ group that supports the Caddo Mounds State Historic Site with the sixth annual Friends Alliance Award. The award, which was presented at the 2024 Real Places Conference, honors a supporting nonprofit or volunteer for their exemplary work in the stewardship of a THC state historic sites.
This year, the Friends of the THC was pleased to recognize the Friends of Caddo Mounds, represented by board president Jackie Bullard and board member Kay O’Neal.
The Friends of Caddo Mounds State Historic Site (located in Alto, Texas) was recognized for its leadership in rebuilding the Caddo grass house after the first grass house was destroyed in a tornado that occurred during the annual Caddo Culture Day event in 2019. The new grass house was a year-long collaborative construction project using primarily ancient Caddo construction methods and local materials of pine wood and sweetgrass. The project started in the winter of 2022 and was completed later that fall, with a team that included numerous local volunteers, members of the Caddo Nation, and site staff. The project was led by a five-woman team, Kay O’Neal, Jackie Bullard, Lauren Haupt, Katelyn De Anne Polly, and Debbie Turner.
Jackie Bullard said of the project, “When you play with grass, it’s flexible and pliable. But when it’s bunched together and fastened to the frame, it creates protection and insulation. Gathering the grass together helps create a sense of home…it’s that gathering process, and the deeper connotations of what that means.”
The Friends Alliance Awards were presented on April 3rd during the opening reception of the THC’s Real Places historic preservation conference.
The nomination period for the 2025 Friends Alliance Awards will begin in July and will be announced on the Friends of the THC’s website, thcfriends.org.
For more information about the Friends of the THC, contact Executive Director Anjali Kaul Zutshi at 512-936-2241. For more information about the Historic Sites Community Engagement Program, contact Coordinator Angela Reed at 737-349-2762.