Field NotesOhio
Upper Falls in the Old Man's Cave gorge, Hocking Hills, with visitors on the rocks

An independent field guide · 365 places

The field guide to outdoor Ohio

Parks and forests, ancient mounds, caves, waterfalls and back roads, with the story behind each place and where to eat and fuel up nearby.
Popular:
  • 117parks & forests
  • 64ancient mounds
  • 34waterfalls
  • 40historic sites
  • 33road trips

Old Man's Cave, Hocking Hills · Photo: Rhododendrites, CC BY-SA 4.0

Explore by type

What are you in the mood for?

See every place →
State parks & forests117 places, with cabins, campsites and trails117 places Waterfalls34 falls, with trail notes34 falls Mounds & earthworks64 ancient sites, from Serpent Mound to Newark64 ancient sites Caves & caverns12 show caverns, recess caves and rock shelters12 caves Lake Erie beaches20 public beaches, Conneaut to Toledo20 beaches Historic sites40 places, from the frontier to the Civil War40 places Road trips33 drives, from the Lincoln Highway to the Morgan Heritage Trail33 drives Oddities19 giants, ghosts and folk-art stops19 roadside stops The Buckeye TrailA 1,444-mile loop, all 26 sections1,444 miles

New to the guide?

Six places to start

One from every corner of the state, each with its full story inside.

01Old Man's CaveHocking Hills · SoutheastA gorge of waterfalls and recess caves where a hermit is said to have lived, with the park's visitor center. 02Great Serpent MoundAdams County · SouthwestA gigantic earthen snake on a hilltop over Ohio Brush Creek, built by a people whose name is still argued over. 03Brandywine FallsCuyahoga Valley · NortheastThe tallest waterfall in Cuyahoga Valley National Park, reached by an easy boardwalk with an accessible upper overlook. 04Marblehead LighthouseMarblehead · Lake ErieThe oldest continuously operating lighthouse on the Great Lakes, lit since 1821, on nine acres of limestone shoreline. 05Zoar VillageTuscarawas County · EasternA well-preserved communal village founded by German separatists in 1817, on the Ohio & Erie Canal. 06Longaberger Basket BuildingNewark · CentralA seven-story office building shaped like a picnic basket, with handles that are heated in winter.

Plan a trip

Open the mapAll 365 places on one map. Filter by cabins, campsites, hunting, beaches and more.Explore the map → Browse by countyPick any of Ohio's 88 counties and see its parks, mounds, waterfalls and historic sites.Find your county → Build a tripSave places as you browse, then line them up into a weekend. Kept in your browser, nothing to sign up for.Start a trip →

Explore Ohio

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

Lake ErieWest Virginia36 places368 places813 places135 places523 places2321 places2124 places2416 places1613 places134 places418 places182 places217 places1710 places1014 places142 places27 places76 places613 places133 places34 places414 places143 places3Harrison Lake State Park2 places22 places22 places26 places64 places4

Tap a symbol for a preview, or search for a place. Open the key to show or hide categories.

Parks, forests & wildlife areas

Find a park

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
Directions →

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

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.

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.

Know a place that belongs here, or spotted something out of date? Email hello@fieldnotesohio.com.