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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Lake Erie Beaches20 public beaches from Conneaut to Toledo and the islands, with a map.
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117 parks in 7 regions

Luthor List Mound (Burning Mound)

Circleville · Pickaway County · South-Central Ohio
A big Adena mound with two mysterious nicknames
National Register of Historic PlacesAlso called the Burning Mound and Signal Mound

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
Verified entrance or visitor center
Published coordinates

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 ridge-top burial mound south of Circleville whose two nicknames both suggest fire.

Also called
The Burning Mound and the Signal Mound
Size
One of the largest burial mounds in Pickaway County; the listed site covers about 2 acres
Setting
On top of a small ridge along Kingston Pike, southeast of Circleville, far from major water
Believed to hold
The skeletons of many leading members of the society that built it
Listed
National Register of Historic Places, 1974

The story

The Luthor List Mound sits on a small ridge along Kingston Pike southeast of Circleville. It is one of the largest burial mounds in Pickaway County, and it is believed to contain the skeletons of many leading members of the society that built it. Its position on a ridge, far from major water, points to the Adena, who often buried their chieftains in mounds like this. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.

The mound goes by two other names, the Burning Mound and the Signal Mound. Christopher Gist described the Pickaway plains around Circleville in 1751 (see the A.W. Marion State Park page).

Related sites

The Burning Mound

Ask anyone about the Luthor List Mound and they will tell you it has other names: the Burning Mound, the Signal Mound. Both names point to fire, and both fit the way the mound sits, high on a ridge with a long view over the Pickaway country. It is the kind of place where a fire would have been seen for miles, and a signal fire is the story that people tell.

The Great Mound in Butler County has the same kind of story, and the same theory: that the big mounds on ridgetops were beacons, lit to send messages from hill to hill.

Behind the legend

The signal idea is a theory, not a record. The sources list the alternate names without explaining where they came from, so the fire story is best read as local lore built on the mound's ridge-top position and the old signal-fire theory (see the Great Mound entry for the 1990 test). What is documented is the mound itself: its size, its Adena attribution and its National Register listing.

If you go

Drive out along Kingston Pike and look at the mound on its ridge, then imagine a fire on top. Visit A.W. Marion State Park for Gist's 1751 description of the plains.

Visiting

Status
Roadside landmark
Managed by
Check locally
Hours
Along Kingston Pike; view it from the road and confirm access before you go.
Admission
Free (verify locally)
Please note
Respect private property and stay off the mound.
Directions

Parks nearby

A.W. Marion State Park
About 8 miles · A small lake park on the Pickaway plains south of Circleville.
Open
Deer Creek State Park
About 16 miles · A big lake park with a lodge and Daugherty's cottage lore.
Open

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