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 →

Plan 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

Jeffers Mound

Worthington · Franklin County · Central Ohio
A Hopewell mound on a Worthington bluff
National Register of Historic PlacesOhio Historical MarkerOwned by the Worthington Historical Society

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.

Size
About 20 feet high, on a bluff about 60 feet above the Olentangy River
Once part of
A Hopewell complex of about 8 acres with smaller mounds and a low rectangular embankment
Dug
In 1866, when William Heath tunneled in and found ash, pottery and two skeletons
The building
A rounded rectangular Hopewell structure with double rows of posts, excavated in 1978 to 1979; its outline is marked on the ground
Saved
H. P. Jeffers kept it out of his 1920s subdivision, and his trust gave it to the Worthington Historical Society in 1974
Listed
National Register of Historic Places, 1974

The story

Jeffers Mound stands on a bluff about 60 feet above the Olentangy River in Worthington, just north of State Route 161. It is the last large piece of a Hopewell complex of about 8 acres that Charles Whittlesey surveyed in the 1830s, with smaller mounds and a low rectangular embankment that farming wore away. In 1866 William Heath sank a shaft and tunnel into the mound and found ash, pottery and two skeletons; what became of the finds is not recorded.

In 1978 and 1979 Ohio Historical Society archaeologists Raymond Baby and Suzanne Langlois excavated a large Hopewell building southeast of the mound, rectangular with rounded corners and double rows of posts, and its outline is now marked by post tops set in the grass. H. P. Jeffers kept the mound out of the subdivision he laid out in the 1920s, and in 1974 his trust gave it to the Worthington Historical Society, which owns it today.

Related sites

Visiting information you can trust

Content last reviewed
November 2026 — this is when Field Notes Ohio's content was last checked, not a live status.
Primary official source
Official page
Location confidence
Verified entrance or visitor center
Published coordinates
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 Developer Who Left a Hill

In the 1920s H. P. Jeffers laid out house lots on the bluff above the Olentangy. He drew the streets around one thing and left it alone: a 20-foot mound.

Fifty years later his trust gave the mound away, to the people of Worthington.

Behind the legend

The subdivision, the 1974 gift to the Worthington Historical Society, the 1866 tunnel and the 1978 to 1979 excavation are documented by the society, the National Register and the state historical marker. Whether the mound itself is Hopewell or older Adena has been asked by Ohio State researchers; current sources say Hopewell.

If you go

Park on Plesenton Drive South, read the marker and walk the outline of the post building before you look up at the mound. Keep off the mound and keep voices down; people live all around it.

Visiting

Status
Open
Managed by
Worthington Historical Society
Hours
Visible in a small grassy lot in a residential neighborhood.
Admission
Free
Please note
Stay off the mound, which erodes easily, and respect the neighbors.
Official information →Directions

Parks nearby

Alum Creek State Park
About 10 miles · A big lake park with the largest inland beach in Ohio.
Open
Delaware State Park
About 20 miles · A camping park on Delaware Lake.
Open

Details last checked 2026-11-05. Confirm hours and prices before you go.

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