For more than a thousand years, Indians lived an agricultural life on the lands that became known as North Carolina. About the 11th century A.D., a new cultural tradition emerged in the Pee Dee River Valley. That new culture, called "Pee Dee" by archaeologists, was part of a widespread tradition known as "South Appalachian Mississippian." Throughout Georgia, South Carolina, eastern Tennessee, western North Carolina, and the southern North Carolina Piedmont, the new culture gave rise to complex societies. These inhabitants built earthen mounds for their spiritual and political leaders, engaged in widespread trade, supported craft specialists, and celebrated a new kind of religion.

Excavations began at Town Creek in 1937 and continued for fifty years. Today excavations continue on a limited basis. The property became a state historic site in 1955. During the 1950s and 1960s key features of the site were reconstructed, including the mound, two temple structures, the burial house, and the surrounding stockade. Today the Town Creek site remains the only state historic site in North Carolina dedicated to American Indian heritage.