Field NotesOhio
Upper Falls in the Old Man's Cave gorge, Hocking Hills, with visitors on the rocks

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The field guide to outdoor Ohio

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Old Man's Cave, Hocking Hills · Photo: Rhododendrites, CC BY-SA 4.0

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Towner Mound (Towner's Woods)

Kent · Portage County · Northeast Ohio
A Hopewell burial mound beside Lake Pippin
Hopewell burial moundCounty park

A low Hopewell burial mound by Lake Pippin in Kent's oldest county park, whose 1932 dig drew crowds of 2,000 and lost many of its finds.

Setting
Beside Lake Pippin in Towner's Woods, Portage County's oldest park
Found
In 1931, when landowner George Towner turned up a stone celt, copper beads and flint blades
Dug
In 1932 by Emerson Greenman, before crowds of about 2,000 people
Burials
At least 7 and possibly 11, including a flexed burial under flat stones nicknamed the Indian Princess
Hopewell
Flint Ridge bladelets, mica and copper mark it as Hopewell
Studied again
By a Kent State field school in 1972

The story

Towner Mound is a small Hopewell burial mound beside Lake Pippin in Towner's Woods, a Portage County park near Kent. In 1931 landowner George Towner turned up a stone celt, copper beads and flint blades, then stopped and called the state historical society when he reached a cremation burial. Emerson Greenman excavated the mound in 1932 and found at least seven and possibly eleven burials, among them a flexed skeleton under interlocking flat stones, later called the Indian Princess, and a richly equipped young man. Mica, copper, graphite and bladelets of Flint Ridge flint mark it as Hopewell.

The dig drew crowds of about 2,000 people, and record-keeping was poor. Many finds went missing; today only some slate gorgets and a sheet of mica are known, held by the Portage County Historical Society. A Kent State field school re-examined the mound in 1972. It is one of the few Hopewell mounds in northeast Ohio you can visit, and the closest to the Mahoning Valley.

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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 Princess and Her Guardian

Local legend says a guardian spirit protects the grave of the Indian Princess. In the 1950s, the story goes, teenagers who camped on the mound came back to their car in the morning and found it raked with claw marks.

It is a ghost story. The grave is real.

Behind the legend

Towner's find, the 1932 excavation, the crowds and the lost artifacts come from the Portage Park District's history of the mound. The guardian spirit and the claw marks are a local legend passed on in blogs and a Kent State thesis, and are told here as legend.

If you go

Walk the trail by Lake Pippin to the mound, stay on the path and look out for one of the park district's Hopewell history hikes.

Visiting

Status
Open until dusk
Managed by
Portage Park District
Hours
The park closes at dusk. The district runs occasional Hopewell history hikes.
Admission
Free
Please note
It is a burial mound. View it from the path and do not climb or dig.
Official information →Directions

Parks nearby

Tinkers Creek State Park
About 8 miles · Marshes and small lakes near Streetsboro.
Open
West Branch State Park
About 9 miles · A big reservoir park with camping and trophy muskie.
Open

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

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