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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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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117 parks in 7 regions

Hopewell Culture National Historical Park

Chillicothe · Ross County · Southern Ohio
Managed by National Park Service
—acres
2.5trail miles
1992established

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
National Park Service (search this park)
Location confidence
Verified entrance or visitor center
Hopewell Culture NHP Visitor Center, 16062 OH-104, Chillicothe
Check current conditions
Official conditions or closures
Hunting or permits
Hunting is not permitted on the park's earthwork sites.

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 story of this land

Hopewell Culture National Historical Park protects the greatest of the earthworks built by the Hopewell people, who flourished in the Ohio Valley from about 200 BCE to 500 CE. It began as Mound City Group National Monument in 1923, after Squier and Davis named the site Mound City for its concentration of at least 23 mounds and after World War I's Camp Sherman had covered it and destroyed many. In 1980 Congress added part of Hopeton Earthworks, and in 1992 the monument became a national historical park with High Bank Works, Hopewell Mound Group and Seip Earthworks.

The Hopewell were not one tribe but a network of beliefs and ceremonial practices shared by many groups across eastern North America, with trade routes that reached from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada. They built earthen circles, squares and octagons, some more than 1,000 feet across, and conical and loaf-shaped mounds up to 30 feet high, carrying the earth in baskets. Many of the sites line up with the sun and moon. Mound City is the only Hopewell earthwork in North America that has been fully restored. The park is part of the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks, which UNESCO inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 2023.

Things to do in the park

  • Walk the 23 restored mounds at Mound City
  • Climb the trail to the Hopeton overlook and look for the mown outlines
  • See Seip Earthworks' huge circles and Central Mound
  • Tour the visitor center museum of Hopewell artifacts
  • Get a National Park passport stamp

Trails

Maps, reviews and recent trail reports for Hopewell Culture National Historical Park.

Find trails on AllTrails →

Things to do nearby

  • Adena Mansion & Gardens, the hilltop estate that named the Adena culture
  • Great Seal State Park, on the north edge of Chillicothe
  • Scioto Trail State Park and Forest, about 10 miles south
  • Fort Hill and the Great Serpent Mound, about an hour southwest

Hiking trails

Mound City has about 2.5 miles of interpretive trails, Hopeton a 1.1-mile round-trip trail to an overlook, and Seip a loop trail.

Wildlife you might see

  • Bald eagles and river birds along the Scioto
  • Scioto Valley floodplain, woodland and old field
  • Deer and small game on the trails
  • Hopewell-era plants and prairie grass at Hopeton, where earthworks are mown into the grass

Fishing

  • No fishing is a focus here; the Scioto River and Paint Creek run nearby.

Hunting

Hunting is not permitted on the park's earthwork sites.

One Park in Six Places

The strangest thing about this national park is that it is not in one place. To see it all, you have to drive. Mound City sits along the Scioto north of Chillicothe. Hopeton lies across the river. High Bank Works is south of town, and the Hopewell Mound Group and Seip Earthworks are miles away on the Paint Creek side, Seip about 15 miles southwest of the Hopewell Mound Group. Even a sixth, Spruce Hill Earthworks, sits on a hill above Paint Creek, ringed by a wall of stone instead of earth, with four entrances.

Walk from one to the next and you notice that the shapes repeat: the same circle, the same square, the same three-shape design turning up miles apart, as if a single plan had been carried across a valley.

Behind the legend

The shared measurements and the solstice and lunar alignments are documented by the National Park Service and in the UNESCO nomination. Archaeologists debate what they mean, and no one has proved that the builders shared a standard unit of measure. What is certain is the park's own history: one national monument in 1923, more sites added in 1980 and 1992, and a World Heritage listing in 2023.

The park's visitors are also advised that not every site has its mounds any more. Farming leveled many, and interpretive mowing and overlooks help show what is no longer visible.

If you go

Start at the Mound City visitor center for the movie and the maps, then drive to Hopeton for the overlook and Seip for the big circles. Leave High Bank to the researchers.

Mounds & earthworks near Hopewell Culture National Historical Park

Ancient earthworks within easy reach of this park. Tap one for its history, legends and visiting details.

Mound City Group

Chillicothe · Ross County · Southern Ohio
A city of mounds along the Scioto, buried under an army camp and then put back.
Can visitHopewell Culture National Historical Park
Part of this park · About 200 BCE to 500 CE

Hopewell Mound Group

Chillicothe · Ross County · Southern Ohio
The place the Hopewell culture is named for, and the largest Hopewell mound anywhere.
Can visitHopewell Culture National Historical Park
Part of this park · About 100 BCE to 500 CE

Hopeton Earthworks

Chillicothe · Ross County · Southern Ohio
Geometry you have to imagine, now traced in mown grass below an overlook.
Can visitHopewell Culture National Historical Park
Part of this park · About 2,000 years ago

Seip Earthworks

Bainbridge · Ross County · Southern Ohio
Enormous circles beside Paint Creek and one of the tallest mounds in the Hopewell park.
Can visitHopewell Culture National Historical Park
Part of this park · About 2,000 years ago

High Bank Works

Chillicothe · Ross County · Southern Ohio
The one Hopewell park site you cannot walk, with astronomy built into its walls.
Hopewell Culture National Historical Park
Part of this park · About 2,000 years ago

Adena Mound & Adena Mansion

Chillicothe · Ross County · Southern Ohio
A governor's estate gave its name to the whole Adena culture, and its view gave Ohio its seal.
Can visitType site of the Adena culture
About 4 miles from this park · Carbon dated to about 100 BCE to 40 CE (the Adena culture, about 800 BCE to 100 CE)

Story Mound (Chillicothe)

Chillicothe · Ross County · Southern Ohio
A neat Adena mound in a Chillicothe neighborhood, opened in 1897 to reveal the outline of a wooden house.
Can visitNational Register of Historic Places
About 5 miles from this park · About 800 BCE to 100 CE

Junction Earthworks

Bainbridge · Ross County · Southern Ohio
A field of low Hopewell walls and ditches that was nearly lost to farming and was bought back by a coalition.
Can visitPreserved by the Arc of Appalachia
About 12 miles from this park · About 200 BCE to 400 CE

Spruce Hill Earthworks

Bourneville · Ross County · Southern Ohio
A meadow-topped hill ringed by a broken stone wall, and one of Ohio's biggest puzzles.
Can visitPreserved by the Arc of Appalachia
About 20 miles from this park · About 1,600 to 2,000 years ago

The Mound City visitor center is open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily except Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day, and the grounds are open dawn to dusk. High Bank Works is closed to the public for research. There is no camping in the park. See the Mounds tab for each site.

Where to camp nearby

Scioto Trail State Park Campground
Quiet campground near a small lake, about 15 minutes south
Directions
Paint Creek State Park Campground
Big lakeside campground near the Seip Earthworks, about 30 minutes southwest
Directions
Pike Lake State Park
Campground and cabins on a small lake, about 35 minutes away
Directions

Restaurants nearby

Old Canal Smoke House
Barbecue in a beautiful old building downtown. Closed Wednesdays
Directions
Bell Farms
Home cooking in an old house; brisket and pie. Thu–Sun only
Directions
Dock At Water
Pub food and sports, open daily
Directions

Gas stations nearby

Sheetz
24 hours, north side of town toward the park
Directions
Speedway
24 hours in downtown Chillicothe
Directions

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