Field Notes Ohio

Ohio's parks, forests and wildlife areas with camping, the ancient mounds beside them, and the Buckeye Trail that links them. Stories, trails, wildlife, and where to eat and fuel up nearby. Book campsites on ReserveOhio.
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The Buckeye TrailA 1,444-mile blue-blazed loop around Ohio, with all 26 sections.
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Mounds & Earthworks43 ancient sites, including the Great Serpent Mound and the Newark Earthworks.
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Historic Sites39 places, from Fort Steuben and Zoar to Camp Chase and the Rankin House, from the frontier to the Civil War.
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Road Trips33 drives, from the Lincoln Highway to the Morgan Heritage Trail.
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Lake Erie Beaches20 public beaches from Conneaut to Toledo and the islands, with a map.
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Oddities & Roadside Attractions19 giants, ghosts and folk-art stops, plus a Mothman just over the line.
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Caves & Caverns12 show caverns, recess caves and rock shelters, with a map.
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Waterfalls34 falls from the Cuyahoga Valley to the Hocking Hills, with trail notes and a map.
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Explore Ohio

One map for every park, mound, historic site, beach, cave, waterfall and oddity in the app.

Lake ErieWest Virginia27 places277 places77 places73 places35 places519 places1913 places1319 places1916 places168 places810 places1010 places109 places98 places820 places204 places43 places3Barkcamp State Park4 places47 places77 places76 places69 places917 places173 places3Harrison Lake State Park2 places2Forked Run State Park3 places32 places26 places610 places103 places32 places2

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117 parks in 7 regions

Arledge Mounds

Circleville · Pickaway County · South-Central Ohio
Two mounds joined at the base, in the middle of a field
National Register of Historic PlacesNever excavated

Visiting information you can trust

Check before driving — this site is seasonal, approximate, privately run, or otherwise uncertain. Confirm hours and access with the official source above.
Content last reviewed
September 2026 — this is when Field Notes Ohio's content was last checked, not a live status.
Location confidence
Approximate — boundary or exact point not confirmed
Use the listed address for directions; treat the map pin as a general area.

Prices, hours, closures, campsite availability and trail conditions shown elsewhere on this page are not live — always confirm with the official source before you go.

A rare pair of conjoined mounds hidden in a Pickaway County field.

What
Two mounds joined at the base, of different sizes
Setting
In the middle of a farm field, far from any road, off State Route 56
Unusual
Only the Arledge Mounds and the McMurray Mounds, which straddled the Franklin and Madison county line, are known to have been conjoined
Excavation
None; the mounds are undisturbed
Listed
National Register of Historic Places, 1974

The story

The Arledge Mounds are two mounds near Circleville, off State Route 56, that lie in the middle of a farm field far from any road. They are of different sizes, and they are joined at the base, which is very unusual: only the Arledge Mounds and the McMurray Mounds, which once straddled the Franklin and Madison county line, are known in Ohio to have been conjoined. Nobody has excavated them, but archaeologists have proposed that the Adena built them, since the Adena are known to have built the McMurray Mounds.

As undisturbed works, they are potentially valuable to archaeology, and they were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.

Related sites

The Twins in the Field

Most Ohio mounds stand alone, or in a ring, or in a long row. The Arledge Mounds are twins: one big, one small, growing out of the same base like a lump with a smaller lump beside it. They lie in the middle of a Pickaway County farm field, far from any road, and no one has ever excavated them.

Behind the legend

The pairing is documented by the National Register listing, which notes that conjoined mounds are known only at Arledge and at the lost McMurray Mounds. The Adena attribution is an inference, since nothing has ever been dug there. Their survival is a matter of luck and of the landowner's care.

Please do not look for them on foot: they sit on private farmland.

If you go

This one is for map-lovers. Learn about it from the county historical society, and look at the other Pickaway County mounds in the app that you can actually see.

Visiting

Status
Private farmland
Managed by
Private
Hours
The mounds sit in a farm field far from any road and are not open to the public.
Please note
Please do not trespass.

Parks nearby

A.W. Marion State Park
About 7 miles · A small lake park on the Pickaway plains.
Open
Deer Creek State Park
About 20 miles · A big lake park with a lodge.
Open

Details last checked 2026-09-22. Confirm hours and prices before you go.