The text below is from the 1983 restricted access paper on Pilot Mountain State Park that was redacted for the author…so this is the sanitized version. This paper on Pilot Mountain is restricted access, confidential and also contains embargoed items with a “need to know” that has to be proven for access to it by everyone. Did she know her report was going to be restricted access because of the laws in place before she published it? Did Spielberg tip his hat at this in the screenplay for the ending of the fictional movie, “Raider of the Lost Ark” in the last century?

In the “Themes and Inventory” by the NC Park Service at Pilot Mountain State Park there are highly significant prehistoric burials. This would make the mountain a pilgrimage site because the indigenous tribes believe their ancestors help them. The hyperlocal belief that you should take your moccasins off within twenty miles of Pilot Mountain on the quartzite slabs and quartzite enriched soil informs the sacredness of the mountain.

To get a better understanding of this indigenous concept about the ancestors listen to the song below that was written and recorded by Markéta Irglová while the rest of the Swell Season band was on a coffee break. She thought it was a demo, but the band said the song was finished as a first take and only needed a light string section added. It is one of the most beautiful tributes to the ancestors the author has ever heard. Listen to “I Leave Everything To You'“ with the closed captions on to read the lyrics as she sings.