Mounds, lost and found: Granville in the wider Hopewell landscape

When the pioneer settlement of Granville was established in 1805, hints and remnants of an earlier occupation were all around. As the village grew, mounds and earthen enclosures were eroded, plowed down, and sometimes outright demolished, and became memories and stories. Some remained in out of the way locations, some still can be seen or at least detected . . . some as recently rediscovered in this last year! All of this is tied to a wider landscape of earthworks and habitations that stretch from Granville to Newark and beyond in these river valleys and nearby hilltops.

Jeff Gill is a writer, storyteller, and columnist. His work appears regularly in the Granville Sentinel and Newark Advocate, and he is a long time volunteer with the Ohio History Connection and a World Heritage Ohio ambassador, helping promote the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks nomination confirmed by UNESCO last September.