Great earthworks
Enormous circles, squares and hilltop enclosures, several of them World Heritage sites.
Newark Earthworks
Newark & Heath · Licking County · Central Ohio
Enormous circles, an octagon and a square built about 2,000 years ago, and part of a golf course until 2025.
Can visitUNESCO World Heritage Site (2023)
100 BCE to 400 CE
Fort Ancient
Oregonia · Warren County · Southwest Ohio
A hilltop ringed by walls, and not a fort at all.
Can visitUNESCO World Heritage Site (2023)
About 100 BCE to 500 CE
Mound City Group
Chillicothe · Ross County · Southern Ohio
A city of mounds along the Scioto, buried under an army camp and then put back.
Can visitHopewell Culture National Historical Park
About 200 BCE to 500 CE
Hopewell Mound Group
Chillicothe · Ross County · Southern Ohio
The place the Hopewell culture is named for, and the largest Hopewell mound anywhere.
Can visitHopewell Culture National Historical Park
About 100 BCE to 500 CE
Hopeton Earthworks
Chillicothe · Ross County · Southern Ohio
Geometry you have to imagine, now traced in mown grass below an overlook.
Can visitHopewell Culture National Historical Park
About 2,000 years ago
Seip Earthworks
Bainbridge · Ross County · Southern Ohio
Enormous circles beside Paint Creek and one of the tallest mounds in the Hopewell park.
Can visitHopewell Culture National Historical Park
About 2,000 years ago
High Bank Works
Chillicothe · Ross County · Southern Ohio
The one Hopewell park site you cannot walk, with astronomy built into its walls.
Hopewell Culture National Historical Park
About 2,000 years ago
Fort Hill State Memorial
Sinking Spring · Highland County · Southern Ohio
A great enclosing wall on a wooded summit, with a nature preserve's trails around it.
Can visitState Memorial and nature preserve
About 2,000 years ago
Marietta Earthworks
Marietta · Washington County · Southeast Ohio
The mounds under Marietta's streets, saved because the town's founders decided to.
Can visitNational Register of Historic Places
About 100 BCE to 500 CE
Portsmouth Earthworks
Portsmouth · Scioto County · Southern Ohio
A vast ceremonial center at the meeting of two rivers, mostly lost to the city that grew on top of it.
National Register of Historic Places
About 100 BCE to 500 CE
Spruce Hill Earthworks
Bourneville · Ross County · Southern Ohio
A meadow-topped hill ringed by a broken stone wall, and one of Ohio's biggest puzzles.
Can visitPreserved by the Arc of Appalachia
About 1,600 to 2,000 years ago
Highbanks Earthworks & Adena Mounds
Lewis Center · Delaware & Franklin Counties · Central Ohio
A wall of engineered clay on a river bluff, and two small Adena mounds in a busy metro park.
Can visitNational Register of Historic Places
Mounds over 2,000 years old; the earthwork about 700 to 1,300 years old
Indian Mound Reserve: Pollock Works & Williamson Mound
Cedarville · Greene County · Southwest Ohio
Two earthworks on either side of a creek canyon, one of them a hilltop enclosure with a burned wooden stockade.
Can visitNational Register of Historic Places
Pollock Works about 100 BCE to 500 CE; Williamson Mound about 500 BCE to 100 CE
Junction Earthworks
Bainbridge · Ross County · Southern Ohio
A field of low Hopewell walls and ditches that was nearly lost to farming and was bought back by a coalition.
Can visitPreserved by the Arc of Appalachia
About 200 BCE to 400 CE
Baum Earthworks & Village
Bourneville · Ross County · Southern Ohio
A Hopewell square below Spruce Hill, and a Fort Ancient village that the first mapmakers did not even mention.
National Register of Historic Places
Earthworks about 100 BCE to 500 CE; village about 1000 to 1650 CE
Glenford Fort
Glenford · Perry County · Central Ohio
A one-mile stone wall around a forested hilltop, now open by permit after two centuries in private hands.
Can visitNational Register of Historic Places
The mound dated to about 280 BCE; the walls are classic Hopewell
Stubbs Earthworks (lost)
Morrow · Warren County · Southwest Ohio
A once-massive Hopewell enclosure near Fort Ancient, now mostly gone.
National Register of Historic Places
About 100 BCE to 500 CE
Miami Fort (Shawnee Lookout)
North Bend · Hamilton County · Southwest Ohio
A one-mile loop follows ancient earthen walls along a bluff where the Great Miami meets the Ohio, with Indiana and Kentucky in view.
National Register of Historic Places
About 2,000 to 3,000 years old; sources differ
Fortified Hill Works
Ross Township · Butler County · Southwest Ohio
A Hopewell wall that follows the rim of a hill above the Great Miami, bought at auction in 2019 and now shown on small guided walks.
National Register of Historic Places
About 2,000 years old
Carlisle Fort (Twin Creek MetroPark)
Germantown · Montgomery and Warren Counties · Southwest Ohio
A marked MetroPark trail passes through a 2,000-year-old Hopewell gateway on a hilltop above Twin Creek.
National Register of Historic Places
About 2,000 years old (about 1 to 300 CE)
Holder-Wright Earthworks (Ferris-Wright Park)
Dublin · Franklin County · Central Ohio
A city park on the Scioto where two circles, a square and five low burial mounds survive beside a restored 1800s farmhouse.
National Register of Historic Places
About 100 BCE to 400 CE
Cross Mound
Tarlton · Fairfield County · Central Ohio
Cross a 1930s WPA suspension bridge over Salt Creek and climb a short, steep trail to an ancient earthen cross whose arms point almost exactly north, south, east and west.
National Register of Historic Places
Undated
Circleville Works (lost)
Circleville · Pickaway County · Central Ohio
Circleville was laid out in rings inside a Hopewell circle in 1810, then squared street by street until nothing was left but the name.
Ohio Historical Marker
The early centuries CE
Fort Hill Earthworks (Rocky River)
North Olmsted · Cuyahoga County · Northeast Ohio
A 155-step climb from the Rocky River Nature Center brings you to three long earthen walls cutting across a shale bluff 90 feet above the river.
National Register of Historic Places
Over 2,000 years old (Cleveland Metroparks)
Greenwood Village Earthwork (Cuyahoga Valley)
Sagamore Hills · Summit County · Northeast Ohio
The Old Carriage Trail runs straight through a wooded plateau that Late Woodland people walled off with earth.
Cuyahoga Valley National Park
Used about 800 to 1,600 years ago
Indian Point Park
Leroy Township · Lake County · Northeast Ohio
A short, steep walk climbs to a knife-edge ridge where two parallel earthen walls still cut off the point between Paine Creek and the Grand River.
National Register of Historic Places
Whittlesey people lived in the region about 900 to 1650 CE; the walls may be older
Burial mounds
Conical mounds raised by the Adena over generations.
Miamisburg Mound
Miamisburg · Montgomery County · Southwest Ohio
A giant earthen cone on a river bluff with 116 steps to the top.
Can visitNational Register of Historic Places
About 800 BCE to 100 CE
Enon Adena Mound
Enon · Clark County · Southwest Ohio
A 40-foot mound in the middle of a village street loop, with a general, a prophet and an apple tree in its stories.
Can visitNational Register of Historic Places
Adena period; exact date uncertain
Adena Mound & Adena Mansion
Chillicothe · Ross County · Southern Ohio
A governor's estate gave its name to the whole Adena culture, and its view gave Ohio its seal.
Can visitType site of the Adena culture
Carbon dated to about 100 BCE to 40 CE (the Adena culture, about 800 BCE to 100 CE)
Wolf Plains Group
The Plains · Athens County · Southeast Ohio
A field of mounds on a Hocking Valley terrace, mostly lost to the town that grew up over them.
National Register of Historic Places
Radiocarbon dating suggests early Hopewell
Story Mound (Chillicothe)
Chillicothe · Ross County · Southern Ohio
A neat Adena mound in a Chillicothe neighborhood, opened in 1897 to reveal the outline of a wooden house.
Can visitNational Register of Historic Places
About 800 BCE to 100 CE
Story Mound (Cincinnati)
Sayler Park · Cincinnati · Southwest Ohio
A small burial mound in a Cincinnati neighborhood that has never been touched by a shovel.
National Register of Historic Places
Assumed Adena
Great Mound (Butler County)
Madison Township · Butler County · Southwest Ohio
A huge Adena mound on a ridge west of Middletown that may have been a signal tower.
National Register of Historic Places
About 800 BCE to 700 CE (Adena period)
Orators Mound (Glen Helen)
Yellow Springs · Greene County · Southwest Ohio
A small burial mound in a woodland glen that became a speaker's stand in the 1840 election.
Can visitNational Register of Historic Places
Prehistoric; culture debated
Luthor List Mound (Burning Mound)
Circleville · Pickaway County · South-Central Ohio
A ridge-top burial mound south of Circleville whose two nicknames both suggest fire.
National Register of Historic Places
Adena period (about 800 BCE to 100 CE)
Shrum Mound
West Scioto · Columbus · Central Ohio
A 2,000-year-old burial mound on a bluff in a Columbus neighborhood, with quarries and condos around it.
Can visitNational Register of Historic Places
About 800 BCE to 100 CE
Arledge Mounds
Circleville · Pickaway County · South-Central Ohio
A rare pair of conjoined mounds hidden in a Pickaway County field.
National Register of Historic Places
Unexcavated; attributed to the Adena
Horn Mound
Tarlton · Pickaway County · South-Central Ohio
A pristine mound at the end of a country road, guarded by nothing but a creek.
National Register of Historic Places
Adena period
Old Maid's Orchard Mound
Lithopolis · Fairfield County · Central Ohio
An 8-foot burial mound tucked into an old orchard, with a name nobody has explained.
Can visitNational Register of Historic Places
Adena period
Wamsley Village Burial Mounds
Wamsley Village · Adams County · Southern Ohio
Burial mounds in the same county as the Serpent Mound, excavated and left in place.
National Register of Historic Places
Adena period
Kinzer Mound
South Salem · Ross County · Southern Ohio
A small Adena mound outside South Salem whose exact location is protected.
National Register of Historic Places
Adena period
George Deffenbaugh Mound
Laurelville · Hocking County · Southeast Ohio
A small Adena mound on a ridge in Tar Hollow country, with a much younger stone mound nearby.
National Register of Historic Places
Adena period
David Stitt Mound
Chillicothe · Ross County · Southern Ohio
A sizable Adena mound near Chillicothe, listed for what may still lie inside it.
National Register of Historic Places
Adena period
Reeves Mound
Alfred · Meigs County · Southeast Ohio
A small, low mound in a Meigs County field where Adena arrowheads keep turning up.
National Register of Historic Places
About 1000 BCE to 400 CE, by the points found
Odd Fellows' Cemetery Mound
Newtown · Hamilton County · Southwest Ohio
A big Adena mound saved because it happened to be in a cemetery.
Can visitNational Register of Historic Places
Adena period
Carl Potter Mound
Mechanicsburg · Champaign County · West-Central Ohio
A worn-down burial mound in a Champaign County pasture.
National Register of Historic Places
Prehistoric
Dayton Power and Light Company Mound
Wrightsville · Adams County · Southern Ohio
A large Adena mound preserved on the grounds of a power plant.
National Register of Historic Places
Adena period
Conrad Mound Archeological Site
Cleves · Hamilton County · Southwest Ohio
A mound site near the Ohio River in far southwest Ohio, known mostly from its listing.
Listed among Adena sites
Adena period
Norwood Mound
Norwood · Hamilton County · Southwest Ohio
A 15-foot Adena burial mound that has stood on a Norwood hilltop as public ground since the 1870s.
National Register of Historic Places
Undated; never excavated
Elk Lick Road Mound (East Fork State Park)
Bethel · Clermont County · Southwest Ohio
A small Adena burial mound in the woods behind the restrooms at East Fork State Park's Indian Mound Picnic Area, with an ODNR marker.
National Register of Historic Places
The Adena period, about 800 BCE to 100 CE; the mound itself is undated
Jeffers Mound
Worthington · Franklin County · Central Ohio
A 20-foot Hopewell mound on a bluff above the Olentangy, with painted post tops in the grass beside it marking a 2,000-year-old building.
National Register of Historic Places
About 100 BCE to 400 CE
Zaleski Mound Group
Zaleski · Vinton County · Southeast Ohio
A 14-foot, tree-covered Adena burial mound in a little park at the entrance to Zaleski State Forest, a few blocks from a second mound behind the village church.
National Register of Historic Places
The Adena period; not dated
Piketon Mounds
Piketon · Pike County · Southern Ohio
A 25-foot Adena burial mound and three smaller ones rise among 19th-century gravestones on Piketon's south edge, just inside the cemetery gate.
National Register of Historic Places
Undated
Grave Creek Mound (Moundsville, W.Va.)
Moundsville · Marshall County, West Virginia · Just over the line
A 62-foot Adena burial mound in the middle of Moundsville, beside a free museum, about 15 minutes over the river from eastern Ohio.
National Historic Landmark
Built in stages about 250 to 150 BCE
Towner Mound (Towner's Woods)
Kent · Portage County · Northeast Ohio
A low Hopewell burial mound by Lake Pippin in Kent's oldest county park, whose 1932 dig drew crowds of 2,000 and lost many of its finds.
Hopewell burial mound
About 2,000 years old
Related places
Places that tie into the mound builders' story.
State parks & forests117 places, with cabins, campsites and trails117 places
Waterfalls34 falls, with trail notes34 falls34 falls from the Cuyahoga Valley to the Hocking Hills, with trail notes and a map.
Mounds & earthworks64 ancient sites, from Serpent Mound to Newark64 ancient sites64 ancient sites, including the Great Serpent Mound and the Newark Earthworks.
Caves & caverns12 show caverns, recess caves and rock shelters12 caves12 show caverns, recess caves and rock shelters, with a map.
Lake Erie beaches20 public beaches, Conneaut to Toledo20 beaches20 public beaches from Conneaut to Toledo and the islands, with a map.
Historic sites40 places, from the frontier to the Civil War40 places40 places, from Fort Steuben and Zoar to Camp Chase and the Rankin House, from the frontier to the Civil War.
Road trips33 drives, from the Lincoln Highway to the Morgan Heritage Trail33 drives33 drives, from the Lincoln Highway to the Morgan Heritage Trail.
Oddities19 giants, ghosts and folk-art stops19 roadside stops19 giants, ghosts and folk-art stops, plus a Mothman just over the line.
The Buckeye TrailA 1,444-mile loop, all 26 sections1,444 miles
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