Meet us where indigenous communities are honored
The Serpent Twin Mound is an effigy mound and piece of earthen public art found in Schiller Park.
Pokto Činto - the Koasati translation of Serpent Twin - was created by indigenous artist Santiago X out of earth, indigenous grass, and ancestral dirt from tribal lands throughout the nation.
Native Americans have long used mounds as burial sites or for ceremonies or wayfinding. For Santiago X, the Serpent Twin is a reminder of the way indigenous civilizations created communities and trade networks long before European explorers landed here.
The effigy mound and the interpretive learning experience that is growing around it is a way to honor the people who have long called this land home. It creates an indigenous space in a place where American cities were built over the top of an existing culture.
The Serpent Twin Mound is meant to be one of two effigy mounds that will connect the Chicago River to the Des Plaines River along nine miles of Irving Park Road that will become an interactive trail.
Called 4000N, the trail offers a way to learn about the communities that once thrived between these two rivers and to celebrate the living histories of local Native Americans.
Daylight hours are the best time to visit the Serpent Twin Mound and Schiller Woods.
There is no cost to visit the Serpent Twin Mound or the 4000N interpretive trail.
It is local artists and Native Americans who are your guides at the Serpent Twin Mound and on the 4000N Trail. As the walking museum is developed, artist activations and educational signage will interpret the living histories of the indigenous communities along Irving Park Road.
Artist Santiago X, the creator of the Serpent Twin Mound, is a multidisciplinary artist and futurist who specializes in earthen installations. He is a citizen of the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana and the indigenous Chamoru from the island of Guam.
The Serpent Twin Mound is in Schiller Woods-West. That’s West Irving Park Road, east of Des Plaines River Road in Schiller Park. Free parking is available.
