A Previously Unknown Hopewell Hilltop Enclosure?

About two years ago I had the opportunity to visit Glenford Fort, a Hopewell hilltop enclosure in Perry County, the next county over from my county, Fairfield County. (Other Hopewell hilltop enclosures include Spruce Hill, Carlisle Fort, and Fort Hill.) As part of that visit to Glenford Fort, I used my LiDAR-processing software to look at the area.

But about a year later, in a totally unrelated context, I was using the same software to look at a different place. And what I saw AMAZED me! (Clickbait!)

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Cahokia

Let me wrap up the trip that my son and I made out west. After leaving Great Basin National Park we headed straight home. We did make one short stop, though, at the Cahokia Mounds across the Mississippi from St. Louis.

I’ll have one more post about this trip where I reflect on trying to do the whole thing barefoot and not really succeeding.

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Glenford Fort

On Saturday I was privileged to participate in a program to visit Glenford Fort in Perry County. It wasn’t much of a hike (with an easy 200-foot ascent to the top of a hill), but it was a great chance to view an ancient hilltop enclosure

While the registration information for the program stressed “sturdy hiking shoes are a must,” I went with the sturdiest kind of footwear I know. (Barefoot.)

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Hopewell Moonset

Sunday and yesterday were two of the scheduled open houses at the Octagon of the Newark Earthworks. What that means is that the golf course on the site is closed and the folks of the Newark Earthworks Center put on tours for the public of the site. These are always interesting and fun—I always learn something new every time I go.

This was also a very interesting time, almost, to be there.

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Hopewell Moon

A rather special time regarding the moon is fast approaching. It is something called the Minor Lunar Standstill. The Earthworks in Newark, Ohio, within the Licking River valley are attuned to the lunar cycle, and that means some interesting opportunities are occurring as the moon aligns with Earthworks.

But I’m going to need to explain.

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The Ohio Ahistorical Society

Folks may remember from last summer (a year ago) that I had a bit of a dilemma deciding whether to renew my membership in the Ohio Historical Society. I’d been a member for 10 years, but they’d made a recent change.

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Blackhand Gorge — Part 1

There are a number of places in Ohio where the rivers run “backwards”. I’ve written about Clear Creek and Salt Creek. Their current configurations came about when their original outlet was blocked by glaciers and they carved a new route in the other direction.

Blackhand Gorge, through which the Licking River flows, is another such location.

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A World Heritage Celebration

Yesterday evening there was a fine celebration in Newark, home of the Newark Earthworks, the remaining portion of a 2000-year old mound complex.

The occasion was a visit by members of the Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma.

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In Memory of Mato-Ska

We lost Mark Welsh Tuesday evening. I only knew him a short time, having met him when I participated in the A Walk with the Ancients back in 2009. But I had walked with him many times after that.

We will surely miss him.

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Octagon Open House

I’ve written before about the marvelous earthworks centered in Newark, Ohio. The Great Circle Mound is located just off Route 79 on the border with Heath, Ohio. And then there is the huge Octagon Earthworks a couple of miles to the northwest, currently occupied by a Country Club and golf course (but owned by the Ohio Historical Society).

Yesterday (and today, too!) was one of the four open houses that are conducted every year. These open houses are always extremely interesting and well worth going to.

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The Ends of the Line

When I wrote last week’s Earthworks Across the Licking Valley, I ended by noting that the “Alligator” Mound and Salisbury Hill are on a straight line-of-sight of each other along the Raccoon Valley before the Raccoon makes its bend due west.

So, can they see each other?

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Earthworks Across the Licking Valley

On Facebook a couple of days ago, Jeff Gill of the Newark Earthworks Center (among other things!) praised some of the LiDAR images I had created that were related to the earthworks around Newark.

But he asked for a “nudge”.

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Salisbury Hill — Follow the LiDAR (Part 2)

Yesterday, in Part 1 I wrote about using LiDAR to predetermine just where the earthworks atop Salisbury Hill would be.

In this entry I’ll write more about the beauty of the hike (or just wandering about), and a bit of how I updated my map of the park.

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Salisbury Hill — Follow the LiDAR (Part 1)

In last week’s entry on Salisbury Hill, I described how I go about mapping an area that is new to me.

Yesterday I returned to polish that up, along with doing some further looking for remnants of the Hopewell structure on top of the hill.

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Salisbury Hill

After I spent the weekend palling around with archeologists looking at the Newark Earthworks, during A Mound Walk, and after having Jeff Gill (the Docent of the Day) mention and point out Salisbury Hill (his name for it), I got to wondering if it was accessible to the general public.

So I went into my usual anal-compulsive research mode, and ended up exploring it on Tuesday.

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