SYNOPSIS:

Dupont's Mound, named for the mysterious and undiscovered Native American midden or shell mound burial ground, is a magical adventure story that teams up a teenage boy, his archeologist aunt and an intrepid dog with ancient spirits to make a discovery that allows the past to protect the future. Through their journey along the north Florida coast, they find that time is more than what is measured by the clock and lives can be changed when the line between past and present is erased. When fourteen-year old Cameron is told that he has to go stay with his Aunt Rachel in Florida for a week, his mom sweetens the deal with promises of Disney, junk food dinners and late night video gaming. Determined not to give up her second-honeymoon travel plans to Europe and desperate to find a solution to the last minute cancellation of her babysitter, she even agrees to let him take along his dog Max. While Cameron dreads having to stay with his boring, aunt who studies old bones for a living, he has no idea that adventures beyond his imagination are waiting for him ---- not in Orlando but in the ancient woods of north Florida. Rachel Austin, an archeologist in her early forties who runs her own research institute, had not planned for a visit from her nephew and certainly hadn't anticipated the added mess of a dog in her orderly world. While intending to take Cameron to Disney, she needs to take care of some work first. Douglas Carson, a north Florida developer who wants to build a sustainable community in the town of Marineland, has asked her company to conduct a site survey, which is required to check for Native American ruins or burial grounds before new construction can begin. Intending only to stop there for the day on their way to Orlando, Rachel's plans change when Douglas makes her a business offer she can't refuse. Needless to say, Cameron is less than thrilled about this change of plans. Missing his friends, the mall and a good cell phone signal, he alternates between boredom and frustration. But more than his disenchantment with Marineland's rural setting, he begins to see and hear things in the woods that don't seem quite real. After finding a strange medallion in the woods, fleeting images of Spanish Conquistadors and Native Americans begin to shadow his day and frightening dreams of battles between them haunt his nights. Little does he know that the medallion will open the door to the ancient world of the Timucua and lead him to discover the location of the lost shell midden. Trying to find his way back home with Max, Cameron stumbles upon what he thinks is a Native American re-enactment of life in an ancient Timucuan village. Here he meets Calabay and Lena, two children from the village. When he tells Rachel and Maya about the historical re-enactment, they are unaware that it exists and wonder what he's talking about. As Cameron and Max begin to spend more time with Calabay and Lena, they are drawn deeper into a world Cameron doesn't quite understand. As the line between the past and the present becomes thinner, he finds that he crosses it once too often and comes dangerously close to not being able to return to his world. But in that journey, he discovers ancient truths that lead to a way home, and a way to save the past and protect a precious history for the future.

DUPONTS MOUND