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

George Deffenbaugh Mound

Laurelville · Hocking County · Southeast Ohio
A ridge-top Adena mound near Laurelville
National Register of Historic Places

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 small Adena mound on a ridge in Tar Hollow country, with a much younger stone mound nearby.

Size
About 6.5 feet tall and 50 feet in diameter, on about an acre
Setting
On a ridgeline northeast of Laurelville
Excavation
Dug at an unknown date before 1941, with a hole from the crest to the base and a smaller hole in the edge
Neighbor
A stone mound about 0.3 mile away, perhaps built by the Fort Ancient culture, more than a thousand years later
Listed
National Register of Historic Places, 1974

The story

The George Deffenbaugh Mound sits on a ridgeline northeast of Laurelville in Hocking County. It is about 6.5 feet tall and 50 feet across. Someone dug into it at an unknown date before 1941, sinking a hole from the crest to the base and a smaller one into its edge. Its conical shape and location point to the Adena, who were active between about 1000 BCE and 400 CE. About 0.3 mile away stands a stone mound, perhaps built by the Fort Ancient culture more than a thousand years later, so people used this ridge for a very long time. The mound was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.

Related sites

Two Mounds, A Thousand Years Apart

Walk a little way along this ridge near Laurelville and you would pass two burial places built a thousand years apart. One is the Deffenbaugh Mound, an Adena mound of earth. The other, 0.3 mile away, is a mound of stone that may have been raised by the Fort Ancient people long after the Adena had gone.

The hills around Tar Hollow have been someone's home, and someone's cemetery, for a very long time.

Behind the legend

The Adena mound and its stone neighbor are documented in the National Register description, which says the stone mound was perhaps built by the Fort Ancient culture. The digging before 1941 is undated and undocumented beyond the hole itself. Laurelville is the same town as the Tar Hollow entries.

If you go

Read the Tar Hollow State Forest legend about Logan and think about the peoples who lived on these ridges before him.

Visiting

Status
Not developed for visitors
Managed by
Check locally
Hours
There is no public visitor information for this site; do not enter private land.
Please note
Please respect private property.

Parks nearby

Tar Hollow State Park
About 10 miles · State park and campground with a fire-tower camp nearby.
Open
Tar Hollow State Forest
About 10 miles · Backpacking, horse camping and the Logan Trail.
Open
Lake Logan State Park
About 12 miles · A quiet lake near Hocking Hills.
Open

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