Field Notes Ohio

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117 parks in 7 regions

Junction Earthworks

Bainbridge · Ross County · Southern Ohio
A Hopewell field saved from the plow
Preserved by the Arc of AppalachiaHopewell earthwork complex

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.

A field of low Hopewell walls and ditches that was nearly lost to farming and was bought back by a coalition.

What it is
A cluster of small enclosures, each an embankment around a ditch, with a few mounds
Recorded
By Squier and Davis in 1845; the largest mound was 7 feet high and the walls at least 3 feet
Setting
At the junction of Paint Creek and its North Fork, southwest of Chillicothe
Today
Mown into a meadow so the earthworks can be seen; some show as crop marks from the air
Preserved by
A coalition led by the Arc of Appalachia and the Heartland Earthworks Conservancy
Address
7660 Cave Road, Bainbridge

The story

The Junction Group is an unusual cluster of small enclosures and a few mounds at the confluence, or junction, of Paint Creek and its North Fork, near the southwest edge of Chillicothe. Squier and Davis named it and drew it in 1845. Each of the enclosures is an embankment around a ditch, and in their day the largest mound was seven feet high and some walls stood at least three feet. For a long time it lay in an agricultural field where it is nearly impossible to see from the ground, though in the right crop and light some of the earthworks still show as crop marks from the air.

In the 2010s a coalition led by the Arc of Appalachia and the Heartland Earthworks Conservancy bought the land to preserve what has been described as one of the largest and most complicated Hopewell earthwork complexes. The field is now a meadow, with the earthworks mown so they can be seen, and it rings with birdsong.

Related sites

The Field That Was Saved

For a long time nobody could see the Junction Earthworks. The walls were low, the ditches half filled, and the whole thing lay in a farm field where the eye could not make sense of it. It took an airplane and the right kind of corn to show the shapes: in early June, the young plants grow differently over the buried ditches, and the circles and squares show up as pale marks.

Then a group of people decided to buy it. The coalition raised the money, and the field became a preserve where hikers walk between grassy walls.

Behind the legend

The preservation is documented: the Arc of Appalachia and the Heartland Earthworks Conservancy led the effort, and the National Park Service supported it. The National Park Service already administers five Hopewell sites in the Paint Creek Valley, and there was talk of transferring Junction to the park, a process that needs an act of Congress and can take years. The earthworks are low, and the mown grass makes them easy to trace.

Birdwatchers come for the meadow, where song sparrows, yellowthroats, indigo buntings and Henslow's sparrows have been recorded.

If you go

Walk the mown paths between the earthworks in mid-July when the black-eyed Susans and coneflowers bloom. Bring binoculars for the meadow birds.

Visiting

Status
Open to hikers
Managed by
Arc of Appalachia Preserve System
Hours
Open to hikers; check the Arc of Appalachia for hours and events.
Admission
Free
Please note
Stay on the mown paths and off the earthworks. Dogs on leash, if allowed.
Address
7660 Cave Road, Bainbridge, OH 45612
Official information →Directions

Parks nearby

Pike Lake State Park
About 10 miles · Camping and cabins in the hills.
Open
Paint Creek State Park
About 11 miles · A big lake park in the same valley.
Open
Hopewell Culture National Historical Park
About 12 miles · The national park with the Hopewell earthworks.
Open

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