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.
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  • 117parks & forests
  • 64ancient mounds
  • 34waterfalls
  • 40historic sites
  • 33road trips

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

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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.

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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

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Parks, forests & wildlife areas

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117 parks in 7 regions

Hopeton Earthworks

Chillicothe · Ross County · Southern Ohio
A square and a circle of the same size
Hopewell Culture National Historical ParkUNESCO World Heritage Site (2023)National Historic Landmark
Directions →Official source →

Geometry you have to imagine, now traced in mown grass below an overlook.

Shapes
A 20-acre circle and a 20-acre square of nearly identical area, plus smaller circles
Parallel walls
Extend about 2,100 feet from the square toward the Scioto River, following the winter solstice sun
Alignments
Summer and winter solstice alignments within one degree
Walls
Once about 12 feet high and 50 feet wide at the base
Reopened
August 25, 2016, with a 1.1-mile round-trip trail and overlook

The story

Hopeton lies across the Scioto River from Mound City, and it was once dominated by a big irregular square with rounded corners joined to an overlapping circle. Squier and Davis were struck by walls that reminded them of railway grading, broad enough on top, they wrote, to admit the passage of a coach. Farming has since plowed most of it flat, and the earthworks were reconstructed through archaeology and interpretive mowing, with the shapes shown by uncut grass.

The circle has the same diameter as circles at four other Hopewell sites, and the parallel walls follow the sun's path on the winter solstice.

Related sites

Visiting information you can trust

Content last reviewed
September 2026 — this is when Field Notes Ohio's content was last checked, not a live status.
Primary official source
Official page
Location confidence
Verified property location
Located from the site's street address
Check current conditions
Official conditions or closures
Reservations or tickets
Tickets or admission info

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 Same Circle, Miles Apart

The strangest thing about the Hopewell earthworks is that the circles and squares are often the same size at sites miles apart. Hopeton's circle is about 1,050 feet across, the same diameter as circles at four other Hopewell sites, and the large circle at High Bank matches the Observatory Circle at Newark. The three-shape design at Seip turns up at several sites in Ross County, all with the same dimensions.

How did people without writing keep a standard across a whole valley?

Behind the legend

Archaeologists call it a real puzzle, and the answer is not settled. What is documented is the pattern itself: the identical measurements and the solstice and lunar alignments are described in the National Park Service's material and in the UNESCO nomination. Scholars have proposed that the builders shared a standard unit of measure and a body of astronomical knowledge, and the question is still debated.

Hopeton was reopened to the public in 2016 after years of closure.

If you go

Walk the 1.1-mile trail to the overlook and look for the mown outlines of the square and circle. Bring water, since there are no restrooms.

Visiting

Status
Open daily in daylight
Managed by
National Park Service
Hours
Open during daylight hours; no restrooms on site.
Admission
Free
Please note
Stay on the trail; the earthworks lie under the fields below the overlook.
Address
990 Hopeton Road, Chillicothe, OH 45601
Official information →Directions

Parks nearby

Hopewell Culture National Historical Park
About 0 miles · The national park that protects this site.
Open
Great Seal State Park
About 3 miles · The hills of Ohio's state seal.
Open
Scioto Trail State Park
About 10 miles · State park and forest just south.
Open

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

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