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

Stubbs Earthworks (lost)

Morrow · Warren County · Southwest Ohio
A Hopewell enclosure lost to gravel pits and a high school
National Register of Historic PlacesLargely destroyed
Directions →

A once-massive Hopewell enclosure near Fort Ancient, now mostly gone.

Also called
Bigfoot Earthworks and the Warren County Serpent Mound
Setting
At the confluence of the Little Miami River and Bigfoot Run, near Morrow
Fate
Largely destroyed by gravel quarrying and the construction of a public school
Excavated
Frank Cowan's team documented 21 Hopewell wooden structures on the school property, with strong evidence the earthworks extended there
The cluster
A survey documented 28 Hopewell sites along the river presumed to belong to the Stubbs complex
Listed
National Register of Historic Places, 1978

The story

The Stubbs Earthworks were a massive Hopewell enclosure, built between about 100 BCE and 500 CE, on the Little Miami River near Morrow in Warren County, only a few miles from Fort Ancient. They are also known as the Bigfoot Earthworks, after the run beside them, and, in some accounts, as the Warren County Serpent Mound. Later gravel quarries and the construction of a public school destroyed most of the site.

Before that was complete, archaeologists got a look. Surveys in the late 1970s and 1980s recorded 28 Hopewell sites along the river presumed to belong to the builders and users of Stubbs, and a dig on the school property documented 21 Hopewell wooden structures, along with strong evidence that the earthworks had once extended onto it.

Related sites

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
Approximate — boundary or exact point not confirmed
Use the listed address for directions; treat the map pin as a general area.

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 Earthwork Under the High School

Not every mound is lucky. The Stubbs Earthworks stood beside the Little Miami River, close to Fort Ancient, and they were once a massive geometric enclosure. Then the gravel pits came, and after them a public school, built on part of the site.

When archaeologists were finally able to dig before the high school went up, they found the outlines of twenty-one Hopewell wooden buildings, the proof of how much had stood there.

Behind the legend

The loss is documented: quarrying and school construction destroyed most of the earthwork, and the digs on the school property are recorded by the Ohio Archaeological Council. It survives mainly as a National Register listing, old maps by Whittlesey in 1851 and reconstruction art. The odd nickname, the Warren County Serpent Mound, appears in the Wikipedia article, and the sources available do not say why.

It is a reminder that for every Serpent Mound, there was a Stubbs.

If you go

You cannot visit Stubbs, but you can visit nearby Fort Ancient, a few miles away, for the best-preserved Hopewell earthwork of the region.

Visiting

Status
Not visitable
Managed by
Not applicable
Hours
The earthworks are largely gone; there is no public site to visit.

Parks nearby

Cowan Lake State Park
About 14 miles · A quiet sailing lake with lotus beds.
Open
Caesar Creek State Park
About 16 miles · A big lake park with a pioneer village and fossil hunting.
Open

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

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