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Contact: Kim Schuette: 614.297.2314 or 800-340-6131
kschuette@ohiohistory.org
For Immediate Release June 26, 2009
Ohio Historical Society To Conduct Serpent Mound-Fort Hill Public Meeting July 8
The Ohio Historical Society will conduct a public meeting on Wednesday, July 8 to solicit input concerning the future management of Serpent Mound and Fort Hill state memorials in Adams County. The meeting will take place at 6 p.m. at the Peebles Community Center at 34 S. Nixon Ave., in Peebles.
Representatives from the Ohio Historical Society and the Arc of Appalachia will be on hand to discuss the future management of the site and answer questions. For more information about the meeting, contact George Kane, the Society’s director of historic sites and facilities, at 614.297.2441 or at gkane@ohiohistory.org.
Serpent Mound is an internationally known prehistoric site that is more than a 1,000 years old. Atop a plateau overlooking the Brush Creek Valley, Serpent Mound is the largest and finest serpent effigy in the United States. Nearly a quarter of a mile long, Serpent Mound apparently represents an uncoiling serpent. It is attributed to what is called the Fort Ancient culture. A public park for more than a century, Serpent Mound attracts visitors from all over the world. The museum contains exhibits on the effigy mound and the geology of the surrounding area. The site is being considered for nomination to the prestigious World Heritage list, which is maintained by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
Fort Hill State Memorial is a nature preserve containing one of the best preserved Indian hilltop enclosures in North America. The Hopewell Indians (100 B.C.-A.D. 500) constructed the 1 1/2 mile long earthwork hilltop enclosure as well as at least two ceremonial buildings and probably a village in the Brush creek Valley. Lying at the western edge of the Allegheny Plateau, immediately south of the glacial boundary, this hilly area contains an impressive diversity of bedrock, soils, flora, and fauna. There are 11 miles of hiking trails at the 1,200 acre preserve as well as a picnic area.
Serpent Mound and Fort Hill are two of 58 sites operated by the Ohio Historical Society, a private, nonprofit organization that serves as the state’s partner in preserving and interpreting Ohio’s history, archaeology and natural history. The Arc of Appalachia Preserve System is an educational 501(c)3 nonprofit organization founded in 1995 that works to preserve the native biodiversity of the eastern temperate forest, of which Fort Hill is a prime example. In 2007 it assured the preservation of Spruce Hill, an important Hopewell hilltop enclosure, by working with several partners to purchase it.
Serpent Mound is on State Route 73, six miles north of State Route 32 and 20 miles south of Bainbridge in Adams County. Fort Hill is located off of State Route 41 on Township Road 256, five miles north of Sinking Springs and three miles south of Cynthiana in Highland County.
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