ABOUT 2,000 YEARS AGO, indigenous people who were part of the Hopewell culture built a series of huge earthen structures in stunningly precise shapes. Some of the most celebrated of these works once spanned four-and-a-half-square miles in central Ohio. But the famous Octagon feature is now home to a private golf course, Moundbuilders Country Club, and largely inaccessible to the public. Ohio History Connection (OHC), a nonprofit that has owned the full site since 1933, asserts eminent domain in a lawsuit to buy back the club’s lease, which would hold another 57 years. The club disputes OHC’s right to break the contract. In January 2020, a state appeals court ruled for OHC; the case is headed to the Ohio Supreme Court.
The Hopewell had a deep understanding of geometry and astronomy. They built the Octagon
so that every 18.6 years, if you stood on Observatory Mound and looked straight across the center of the complex—through the circle and parallel walls, down to the far
end of the Octagon—the moon would be perfectly aligned with the earthworks’ main axis while hovering
in its northernmost rising position.
This is the largest preserved set of parallel walls from the Hopewell world. Long ago, walled paths like
these stretched for miles, most likely serving as ceremonial walkways that linked earthwork sites.
At the Octagon vertices, the Hopewell made gateways that are visually obstruct
ed by barrier mounds. The purpose of these ancient mounds is unknown, though some historians believe the Hopewell could
have used them like admission booths during ceremonial gatherings, with clans
entering through respective gateways.
Sometime between the years A.D. 1 and 400, indigenous Americans constructed these massive earthworks, one basketful of dirt at a time. They were more interested in breadth than height. Each of the Octagon’s eight symmetrical walls measures 550 feet long and stands 5 to 6 feet high. Four Roman Colosseums could fit inside the Octagon; Stonehenge could fit inside this seemingly
tiny circle.
The 50-acre Octagon is one of eight sites among these earthworks that is vying for a coveted Unesco World Heritage designation. The nomination won’t go forward until the Octagon is accessible to the public—that is, once it’s no longer a private golf course. This raised platform is the only place where
visitors can view the Octagon most days.
The Octagon likely served ceremonial purposes that drew thousands from all over—perhaps from as far as the East Coast—for funerals or naming ceremonies. It may have been the center of a trade network: Among Hopewell artifacts, archaeologists have found shells from the Gulf Coast, shark teeth from the Atlantic and obsidian from Yellowstone. (See “The Lost History of Yellowstone,” p. 32.)
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