Hopewell Culture National Historic Site and Chillicothe, Ohio

After a day of hanging out in the park (and playing a bit of disc golf) we decided to do some more driving.

My cousin, Rich, told us about some Indian Mounds near Chillicothe, where he lives (sporadically). (My cousin Rich has three condos, one in Chillicothe, one in Fort Lauderdale and one in Seattle. In addition he has a daughter in London whom he visits frequently. Our paths never seem to cross. He flew to Western New York for the eclipse while we were in Hot Springs. Then he came to Chillicothe, but went back to Seattle before we got here.)

We decided to check out the mounds anyway. There are actually lots of mounds in this part of Ohio, most of which you would never notice because they have been plowed over and built upon. But five of the sites are being preserved as the Hopewell Culture National Historic Park. This is also a World Heritage Site. The visitors center is at the Mound City Group. There are 22 mounds (a 23rd was totally excavated before the area was protected and its location is unknown) enclosed in three miles of low earthwork walls.

Many artifacts were found here. Unfortunately for us the museum in the visitor center was being remodeled so no objects were on display. We did get to watch an interesting video introduction.

Mound seven was the largest mound. It was carefully built using layers of clay and sand. There were graves under some of the mounds, some with cremated remains. These mounds were all built from 500 BCE to 500 CE (Current Era).

Me being me, I was just as impressed with the huge sycamore tree.

We took the time to walk the nature trail…

where, quite appropriately, Ohio buckeye was growing.

We were meeting Rich’s partner, Ken, for lunch and we had a bit of time so got in nine holes of disc golf at a nearby park.

This is a rather wind blown Ken (we ate lunch outdoors because we had Matey). He posed for me in front of the plaque in Bennet Hall showing the Deans of Ohio University Chillicothe. Cousin Rich is the fourth from the left (retired 2011). Ken also took us on a brief tour of Chillicothe, which was the first state capital of Ohio and is a very picturesque town. You’ll have to take my word for that as I was busy listening and looking and never took any pictures. Anyway we had a great time and I was glad to finally meet Ken.

On the way back to the campground we stopped at another of the Hopewell sites, the Seip Earthworks.

One remarkable thing about these sites is that even though they are miles apart some contain the same elements. The Seip Earthworks has a square, a large circle and a small circle, as do four other sites. And in each one the square encompasses 27 acres.

It’s hard to discern the shapes from the ground, but here you can make out the small circle in the distance.

These are the fifth mounds we’ve visited. I reviewed them all to try to fit them together in my mind:

Poverty Point State and World Heritage Site, Northeastern Louisiana, on the Mississippi River Floodplain. 1700-1100 BCE!!

Hopewell Culture National Park and World Heritage Site, Chillicothe, Ohio, along the Scioto River. 500 BCE – 500 CE

Kolomoki Mounds State Park, southwestern Georgia, about 15 miles from the Chattahoochee River. 350 – 750 CE

Wickliffe Mounds State Historic Site, western Kentucky, along the Mississippi River. 1100 – 1350 CE

Emerald Mound, National Historic Landmark, just north of Natchez, Mississippi, along the Mississippi River. 1200 – 1750 CE The Emerald Mound was still being used at the time of European contact.

They don’t fit together well. I need a history of pre-Colombian North America written for a lay person. Any recommendations?