Serpent Mound in the late 19th century. David Gardner, photographer

The Columbus Public Library has some wonderful early images of Serpent Mound in the Columbus Memory collection of digital images, which are available online. These are images of Serpent Mound taken by David Gardner who was an Adams County photographer from the late 1880s into the 1930s. There are five images of Serpent Mound in the collection, which certainly belong to the earliest phase of Gardner’s career.

Here is a particularly early view of main body of the Serpent looking towards the tail

A view of the Serpent’s tail with three women and a child posed within the coils

Serpent Mound — the Tail

Another view of the main body of the Serpent looking towards the tail

A view of the main body looking towards the head

These images are a marvelous record of Serpent Mound at the end of the 19th century. Thank you to Sandra and Chuck Cody for sharing these images with the Columbus Public Library; and thanks to Columbus Memory they are being shared with the world!

Brad Lepper