Your project sounds really neat and I hope you keep all of us on the Native Plants Forum up-to-date with some of the designs elements you come up with for permaculture.

The concern I have with your hill is it all starts with the soil, It's going to be a challenge growing anything worthwhile if the hill lacks surface topsoil. Sometimes top soil is reserved off to the side when excavation is done to be graded on top of the subsequent subsoils that were also dug. Subsoils lack the proper nutrients and composition for most plants to thrive. It's best to have the soil tested to see if it is suitable for whatever it is you want to grow. If it's not suitable, improvements will have to be made before planting the hill. Beyond that, it's always more difficult to grow things on a hill so you will be limited to what will do well in that environment. But if your property is wet otherwise then you might treasure having a bit of higher dryer land. Finally, if you decide you have little use for the hill, and if it is clean soil, someone looking for clean fill may take it off your hands at no charge to you.

Your project sounds really neat and I hope you keep all of us on the Native Plants Forum up-to-date with some of the designs elements you come up with for permaculture.

The concern I have with your hill is it all starts with the soil, It's going to be a challenge growing anything worthwhile if the hill lacks surface topsoil. Sometimes top soil is reserved off to the side when excavation is done to be graded on top of the subsequent subsoils that were also dug. Subsoils lack the proper nutrients and composition for most plants to thrive. It's best to have the soil tested to see if it is suitable for whatever it is you want to grow. If it's not suitable, improvements will have to be made before planting the hill. Beyond that, it's always more difficult to grow things on a hill so you will be limited to what will do well in that environment. But if your property is wet otherwise then you might treasure having a bit of higher dryer land. Finally, if you decide you have little use for the hill, and if it is clean soil, someone looking for clean fill may take it off your hands at no charge to you.

What theresa says is true, but you can condition it over time by laying rough mulch all over it like whole banana leaves for instance. Just keep piling stuff on it and you'll have top soil soon enough.

If it were me though, I would probably use it for fill dirt somewhere...such as for making banks and swales to direct water flow to where it is important for me and my permaculture setup.

I will be digging a pond here sometime, 15 ft deep. I'll be setting the top soil aside someplace, and taking the clay underlayer and using that to make banks to keep road dirt from infiltrating my land any more, and the top soil will either be lain on top or held aside for use in other gardening projects.

Louisiana has challenges I am not familiar with.
A few thoughts nonetheless:
1. You can change the topography of the hill a bit and without changing the size of its overall footprint to make it more like a plateau or mildly terraced or to make water catchments. I recall that water catchments are popular in permaculture. Digging during summer in Louisiana sounds tough though. Might want to wait a little while.
2. Whatever you do, killing the weeds will be a good start. In some tough spots I have had success by cutting down the weeds, planting cereal rye (rye grain) in fall, cutting down the cereal rye just before it goes to seed and then planting what I really want in spring. The cereal rye suppresses a lot of the weeds and will help penetrate the soil and add organic matter. If you are not too far from a true agricultural community you should be able to buy the rye somewhere local. If not, it can be had by mail order.
3. There are "claybusting" seed mixes you can buy that will grow plants that help penetrate and loosen hard packed soil. Some clovers are said to be useful in this way also.
4. Many prairie plants can handle some tough soil and a bit of dryness once established.

Those are all great ideas. I hadn't thought about using the soil to direct water...very interesting. Also, I might try growing rye on there, if I can get it to grow, and I do have tons of banana leaves. Red clover too! Great stuff guys. I will keep everyone posted on what becomes of the hill and the property as we plan to start out there in mid September. I love the fact that I can come here and run ideas/problems by others and get so much feedback. Thank you again everyone.

I you can level the top, it would probably make a good place to put a playground, swing, or gazebo.