3. Land Acquisitions Status At Hopewell Culture NHP
By Jarrod Burks and Jennifer Pederson

In May 1992, President George Bush signed Public Law 102-294 creating Hopewell Culture National Historical Park (NHP) in Ross County, Ohio. This legislation authorized the purchase of properties that would allow the new park to expand its boundaries beyond those of the existing Mound City Group National Monument. Until this time, the monument consisted of the Mound City Group and portions of the Hopeton Works, which were in danger of being destroyed by a gravel operation.

Since the 1992 legislation, a primary management objective at Hopewell Culture NHP has been land acquisition at Hopewell Mound Group, High Bank Works, Seip Earthworks, and Hopeton Works. The process of building the park has been slow and blocked by many legal hurdles.

Nevertheless, there is much good news to report for the ongoing efforts to acquire and preserve these important Hopewell sites. There are four basic categories of land acquisition status at Hopewell Culture NHP:

(1) parcels currently owned;

(2) parcels to be acquired in less than a year;

(3) parcels to be acquired in one to three years; and

(4) parcels potentially available for acquisition or addition to the park.

Figure 1 shows how these categories are distributed among the five units of Hopewell Culture NHP.

The last remaining parcel of the 292-acre Hopeton Works unit was officially acquired in October of this past year. This purchase finally brings to an end the over 30 year battle to save this National Register historic site from development and gravel quarrying. While gravel is still actively mined from quarry pits along the edge of the second terrace, the earthworks themselves are now protected from further damage.

Hopewell Culture NHP archeologists continue to survey the bottomlands in this bend of the river and last year documented significant archeological deposits just west of the unit boundaries. One additional parcel north of the unit may become available for purchase in the near future. This parcel contains the eastern extension of a Hopewell settlement found in the Overly Tract, as investigated in 1995 by an Ohio State University field school in conjunction with National Park Service archeologists.

This autumn also officially marked the acquisition of the second of four major parcels at the 300-acre Hopewell Mound Group unit. The first parcel was purchased from the Archaeological Conservancy in 1997. Together, these two parcels account for the vast majority of the embankments, borrow pits, and the more than 40 mounds at this site. Of the two parcels now in the acquisition process, the large tract that includes much of the northern edge of the main embankment should be purchased within the next year.

The smaller tract that cuts across the site along its southern edge will likely require one to three years for acquisition. An ongoing remote-sensing project by park archeologists at this site has revealed many intact features beneath the plow zone and will play a key role in inventorying this site’s extant resources. A small parcel of land north of the unit may become available as an uneconomical remnant once the primary acquisitions are completed.

The two remaining park units, High Bank Works and Seip Earthworks, are in the early stages of acquisition. Of the 197 acres projected for acquisition at the High Bank Works, approximately half will probably be acquired within the next year. The remaining portions will likely take one to three years before they become part of the park. Recent remote-sensing surveys at this little known earthwork site by Dr. N’omi Greber have also proven useful in defining the location and nature of the earthworks.

Seip Earthworks, the final park unit, has the furthest to go in the acquisition process. A third of this Hopewell earthwork complex is currently owned and managed by the Ohio Historical Society. The remaining sections of the earthwork will most likely be acquired within the next one to three years. A large tract to the southeast of the unit will likely become an uneconomical remnant upon the completion of the initial purchasing at Seip Earthworks. Thus, after an archeological survey, this tract may also be purchased as part of the Seip Earthworks unit.

Together, the five units of Hopewell Culture National Historical Park will provide for the protection of some of the best-known Hopewell earthwork complexes in the world. We anticipate that the ongoing archeological programs for research and resource inventorying will provide much needed information on Hopewell use of these earthwork sites. At some units, such as Hopewell Mound Group, concentrations of habitation debris will also provide valuable insight into Hopewell domestic life.

Unfortunately, many more Hopewell earthworks in Ross County and the rest of the middle Ohio Valley have been or will soon be completely destroyed. The mass wasting of the archeological record across much of the Midwest U.S. makes these recent and upcoming acquisitions all the more critical.