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Mansion and Gardens was the home of Thomas
Worthington, Ohio's sixth governor. It was once part
of a 2,000-acre estate. |
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CHILLICOTHE,
Ohio — Capt. Mordecai Hopewell may be the most famous
old-time landowner in southern Ohio’s Ross County.
Hopewell’s
name is attached to the ancient culture that built giant,
elaborate and mysterious earthworks in the Ohio Valley:
the Hopewell Indians who thrived between 200 B.C. and 500
A.D.
The
Civil War veteran owned the farm where an extensive
archaeological dig took place near Chillicothe in 1891.
Today, it is known as the Hopewell Mound Group earthworks.
It is one of five earthworks that together form the
Hopewell Culture National Historic Park.
The
Hopewell farm off Sulphur Lick Road northwest of
Chillicothe and along the North Fork of Paint Creek
includes portions of the wall and mounds that were built
2,000 years ago with simple hand tools. It is a 316-acre
site.
The
main attraction at the 1,245-acre historic park is the
Mound City Group, a 120-acre tract that is a cemetery, of
sorts, and a ceremonial ground. It’s about 45 miles
south of Columbus.
It’s
generally considered one of the most important and
well-known archaeological sites in North America, with 23
re-created mounds on 13 acres memorializing the dead that
date back at least 1,500 years. Two additional mounds are
outside the main tract and have not been fully
authenticated.
The
site was likely used for ceremonies including cremation
and other community rituals. Some of the mounds may be
tied to astronomy with alignments linking the Earth, moon,
sun and stars. It is the only fully restored Hopewell
site.
The
grassy tract sits next to the Scioto River and close to
the Chillicothe Correctional Institution, a state-run
maximum-security prison.
Mound
City includes a small visitor center where visitors can
view a 17-minute film on the Hopewell Indians and exhibits
of artifacts including pottery, copper items and
animal-shaped effigy pipes.
A
1.5-mile trail circles Mound City with audio stations and
a self-guiding brochure. But most visitors are drawn
straight into the mound complex that is surrounded by a
low earthen embankment. The park service offers a guided
walking tour and patio talks tours during the summer.
To
most visitors, Mound City looks like a grassy city park or
a golf course.
The
Hopewell Indians brought high-ranking dead here for
cremation in wooden charnel houses. The ashes, along with
material objects, were placed atop a clay platform, buried
and covered by a small mound. After several burials, the
charnel houses would be dismantled, leaving behind a
now-larger mound.
The
mounds vary in terms of numbers of burials, the layers of
coverings and the kinds of artifacts they contain.
The
Central Mound is the largest, perhaps 30 feet high.
Thirteen cremated burials were accompanied by copper
falcon effigies. Fragments of the skulls had been cut and
drilled, perhaps to create ceremonial death masks.
The
Mound of Pipes, excavated in 1847, included more than 200
carved stone pipes in the shape of birds, animals and
reptiles. Replicas are on display.
The
Mica Grave Mound, excavated in 1921, contained evidence of
a wooden building with a pit lined with mica. Inside were
cremated human remains, along with obsidian, tools, raven
and toad effigy pipes and a human-shaped copper headdress.
Nearby were elk and bear teeth, large obsidian points,
5,000 shell beads and two copper headdresses, one with
antlers and the other in what may be the form of a bear.
I
also visited one of the other Hopewell Culture sites, the
168-acre Seip Earthworks. The site with two circles and a
square includes a burial mound that is 30 feet high, 240
feet long and 130 feet high. It is the second largest
known Hopewell mound.
A
122-acre portion of the site is surrounded by a
10-foot-high earthen wall that stretches nearly two miles.
Cremation
shelters have been located, along with freshwater mussels
and artifacts made of obsidian, silver, copper, tortoise,
shell and mica.
The
site is owned by the Ohio Historical Society and managed
by the National Park Service. Admission is free.
The
other Hopewell Culture sites are:
—Hopeton
Earthworks at 292 acres. The geometric earthwork with a
great circle and great square is just across the river
from Mound City. It includes mysterious parallel earthen
walls that stretch 2,400 feet toward the river. It is not
open to the public.
—High
Bank Works at 190 acres south of Chillicothe. It is an
astronomical observatory that marks the summer solstice
and eight points of a complex 18.6-year lunar cycle. It is
not open to the public.
There
is a sixth local site: 240-acre Spruce Hill west of
Chillicothe. The hilltop earthwork is owned by the Arc of
Appalachia Preserve and the Ross County Park District. It
is managed by the federal park service.
The
term Hopewell describes a broad network of economic,
political and spiritual beliefs and practices among
different Indian groups over a large portion of the
eastern United States.
The
Indians hunted, fished and gathered wild foods. They lived
in villages of small huts made of wood and covered with
animal skins or bark. They did not live around the mounds.
They
were part of a wide-ranging trade network that extended to
North Carolina for mica, to Wyoming for obsidian, to the
Great Lakes for copper and silver and to the Atlantic and
the Gulf of Mexico for shells and shark’s teeth. They
disappeared about 1,500 years ago.
Mound
City has a varied history. During World War I, the U.S.
Army built Camp Sherman there with more than 2,000
buildings and up to 35,000 troops.
Railroad
tracks to the camp ran atop the mounds closest to the
Scioto River.
Most
of what you see at Mound City has been reconstructed from
detailed maps drawn in 1846 by Ephraim G. Squier, a
Chillicothe newspaper editor, and Edwin H. Davis, a local
physician.
In
1923, the Mound City Group was declared a national
monument. In 1992, it became the Hopewell Culture National
Historic Park.
The
visitor center is open from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily in
the fall, winter and spring, to 6 p.m. from Memorial Day
to Labor Day. The grounds are open dawn to dusk daily.
Admission is $2 per person or $4 per vehicle.
For
more information, contact the Hopewell Culture National
Historic Park, 16062 State Route 104, Chillicothe, OH
45601, 740-774-1126,
