Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks—a place for reflection in the past and today
These earthworks are prime examples of the “Hopewell culture,” a term which refers to artifacts and geographic features made by indigenous people who lived in eastern North America from about 100 BCE to 400 CE.
The term “Hopewell” is not an indigenous term; it refers to the Hopewell family, which owned an important site in Ross County, Ohio, in the late 1800s. “Understandably, some people object to the use of a European name to designate an ancient American Indian group,” a sign at the Newark Earthworks’ Great Circle Museum explains. But there are no known written records from the culture to know what term the people used to describe themselves. |
While the construction of earthen embankments is not unique to the Hopewell culture, the enormous scale and geometric precision of the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks is not seen anywhere else in the world. Additionally, artifacts from across North America—such as obsidian from Yellowstone, copper from the Great Lakes, and shells from the Gulf of Mexico—have been found at the earthworks, confirming their status as a site of pilgrimage for indigenous people across the continent. |
World Heritage Sites are landmarks recognized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization as having globally relevant forms of cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The Grand Canyon, the Great Wall of China, and the pyramids of Giza are all examples of World Heritage Sites.
The nonprofit Ohio History Connection, which oversees the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks, has led the charge to compile the detailed documentation package necessary for formal nomination. The largest challenge for the organization was resolving a lease dispute with the Moundbuilders Country Club.
The Moundbuilders Country Club leases the site of the Octagon Earthworks, one of the eight Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks, for use as a golf course. Nonmembers are only permitted to visit the site four times a year, which conflicts with the expectation that a World Heritage Site be publicly accessible.
The Ohio History Connection offered the Moundbuilders Country Club $800,000 in 2018 to break its lease, which runs through 2078. The club refused the offer, pointing to another appraisal of the site that concluded the lease was worth $1.75 million, and the two entities went to court.
In December 2022, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled that the Ohio History Connection acted in good faith when it offered to break the lease. The case now heads back to trial court to proceed with the eminent-domain appropriation.
If all goes well with the rest of the nomination process, the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks may be declared a World Heritage Site by the end of this year, which coincidentally is the centennial of Hopewell Culture National Historical Park.
Great Circle Tour at Newark Earthworks
The Great Circle Earthworks is part of the Newark Earthworks, which once were the largest set of geometric earthworks in the world. The interconnected site encompassed more than four square miles and contained the Great Circle Earthworks, the Octagon Earthworks, and the square-shaped Wright Earthworks.
The circumference of the Great Circle Earthworks is equal to the perimeter of the Wright Earthworks, while the area of the large circle at the Octagon Earthworks is equal to the area of the Wright Earthworks. Additionally, the Octagon Earthworks incorporates alignments to all eight points on the horizon that mark the entire 18.6-year-long cycle of the moon as it rises and sets.
The Great Circle Earthworks also served as Camp John Sherman in 1861, which was the training camp for the 76th Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment during the Civil War. Seventeen years later, the site hosted a “Great Reunion of the Veteran Soldiers and Sailors of Ohio,” which nearly ended in disaster when the platform on which President Rutherford B. Hayes, General James A. Garfield, and General William Tecumseh Sherman were speaking abruptly collapsed (they all escaped unharmed).
During the tour, Lepper notes that approximately 20,000 to 30,000 people gathered inside the Great Circle Earthworks for President Hayes’ speech, which demonstrates just how large these earthworks are.
I highly recommend visiting the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks and learning more about the history of these sites!