By Mark Wolfe, Texas State Historic Preservation Officer; President, National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers
Just over a year ago, the Texas Historical Commission experienced one of the most heartbreaking events in our organization’s history. On April 13, 2019, an F3 tornado struck the community of Alto, in Cherokee County in east Texas. Ground Zero for the storm was our own Caddo Mounds State Historic Site, where members of the Caddo Nation and other celebrants had gathered for the site’s biggest annual event, Caddo Culture Days. Dozens of people were injured, some severely. One person was killed. And the visitor center was destroyed along with a recently-completed Caddo grass house.