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.
Try:
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

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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

Marietta Earthworks

Marietta · Washington County · Southeast Ohio
The ancient works the founders of Ohio tried to save
National Register of Historic PlacesPreserved by Marietta's founders

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 mounds under Marietta's streets, saved because the town's founders decided to.

Parts
Conus (the great mound in Mound Cemetery), Quadranaou (Camp Tupper Park), Capitolium and the Sacra Via
Names
Latin names given by the Ohio Company of Associates
Conus
A conical burial mound with a ditch and embankment; the cemetery was established in 1801 to protect it
Capitolium
A truncated pyramid with three ramps, preserved by the library built on top of it in 1916
Cemetery
Mound Cemetery has the most Revolutionary War officers buried of any cemetery in the country

The story

When the Ohio Company of Associates founded Marietta in 1788, it landed on the site of a great Hopewell earthwork complex from about 100 BCE to 500 CE, and the founders were impressed. They gave the structures Latin names: Quadranaou for the largest platform mound at what is now Camp Tupper, Capitolium for another at the site of the library, Conus for the conical burial mound now in Mound Cemetery, and Sacra Via, the sacred way, for the walled path leading from town toward the river. The company set the mounds aside as protected public squares.

Not all of it survived. In 1820, a man who was leasing Quadranaou began to plow it down, and a public outcry and a legal fight followed and saved it. The town established Mound Cemetery in 1801 around the Conus to protect it, and the Capitolium was preserved when the county library was built on top of it in 1916.

The Founders Who Saved the Mounds

Most of the mounds and earthworks in Ohio were plowed away. In Marietta they were saved by the men who founded the town. Rufus Putnam surveyed them in detail. The Ohio Company gave them Latin names, leased the public squares to trusted men for safekeeping and told them to keep the ancient works preserved. In 1801 the town made the great conical mound into a cemetery so nobody would flatten it.

Even so, in 1820 a man who had leased the Quadranaou started plowing it down, and the town rose up and stopped him.

Behind the legend

The preservation story is documented in Washington County's and Marietta's histories. What is less certain is who built the works. Older accounts credit the Adena, and current archaeological dating puts the complex at about 100 BCE to 500 CE, the Hopewell era. Many of the Latin names came from the Ohio Company and have nothing to do with the builders.

Today Mound Cemetery has the highest number of Revolutionary War officers buried of any cemetery in the country.

If you go

Walk the Mound Cemetery around the Conus, then look for the Capitolium under the library. Finish at the Campus Martius Museum a few blocks away.

Visiting

Status
Open
Managed by
City of Marietta
Hours
Mound Cemetery and Camp Tupper Park are open to the public; check with the city.
Admission
Free
Please note
Do not walk on the mounds in Mound Cemetery.
Address
Mound Cemetery, 5th & Scammel Sts., Marietta, OH 45750
Official information →Directions

Parks nearby

Wayne National Forest: Marietta Unit
About 18 miles · The Marietta Unit of Wayne National Forest, with Leith Run on the Ohio River.
Open

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