All information was taken from the displayed information presented from Parks Canada. I have not personally done any research in the matter beyond what was taken from this trip. I am sure there are quite a few theories about how many people were here - I've just presented one. You might very well be correct in your assumptions.

Cotton was wealth? Who picked the cotton? There was no hiring! Hiring means wage paying!

This is distasteful at best!

Antebellum means "before the war", so the homes here were some of most extravagant to exist before the US civil war. Yes, wealth was accumulated by the owners and not the slaves (much like most of a business wealth today goes to the owners and not the workers), so you are correct in that. The video, like the National Historic Site, is to provide a glimpse into the life of the wealthy at the time. The life of the slaves working at the plantation was touched on, but by no means do I have an understanding of what their lives realistically looked like at the time. Unfortunately, that's part history in the USA and something I'm glad that was abolished out of time. It's unfortunate for us to hear you feel the video was distasteful. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, and I appreciate you sharing yours. There might be others that agree.

This trip turned out to be way better than we thought. I don't think these places get a lot of the recognition that they deserve!

Sounds good to me! If you could find one with some A/C at least, that would be a true testament to the friendship!

From what I understand there were a handful of mound building civilizations scattered across the US. I've never seen them prior to this trip in person (that I recall), so it was interesting to see some of them in person!