Pull off a highway dotted with strip malls, stop in an office parking lot, wander into the woods, and you may stumble upon a 400-year old Indian village. It's actually a replica of a 16th century Occaneechi - Saponi community, within a circular stockade. The layout and structures are based on excavations of Occaneechi Town, an anthropological site along the Eno River, about a half mile east. Descendants of the Occaneechi - Saponi built the replica village in 1997.
There is a bulletin board with a little information; this replica village is low-key and non-commercial. No postcards, no t-shirts... in fact, no one's around to weed or cut the lawn. There are no mannequins or statues to show us what the Indians looked like in their habitat. The site is usually deserted, just like the real Occaneechi enclave after hordes of white settlers moved in and decimated the locals with diseases from Europe.
If you want to see what a white pioneer looked like, just head south on Churton Street to visit the statue of Daniel Boone at the Shops at Daniel Boone.
