Photographs of the Remains of the Ancient North Fork Earthwork in Ross County, Ohio

North Fork Works in Ross County, Ohio

Little remains of this once impressive ancient Hopewell earthwork and burial mound site near Chillicothe, Ohio in Ross County, Ohio. It is on the other side of Chillicothe, Ohio near Mound City. It has been turned into a public park by the DNR who have spent money on a parking lot and bathrooms, but nothing to restore the earthwork. There are also no signs to direct the visitor to the small sections where the original earthwork is still visible.
    These spots can be found by going north up the hill. The remaining portion of the earthwork is the right corner of the map where the earthwork goes up the hill and then turns and parallels the top of the hill. The earthwork can be traced for a short distance at the top of the hill. The best place to see the ditch that was on the north side of the embankment is a little further down to the west.  There is also some remnants of the work on the extreme western side of the hill, where the embankment went back down towards the lower area.
  In the lower area are a few Swails in the ground that was once the site of burial mounds.

This is the corner of the earthwork at the top of the hill. The earthwork can be traced a short distance down the hill, but in the lower area, it has been completely erased. From this spot, the square earthwork would have been at the bottom of the hill.

To the west of the corner embankment the ditch that was outside of the earthwork can be traced for a short distance.


This is such a great opportunity to finally restore one of the great earthworks constructed by the Hopewell Sioux mound builders.  From the top of the elevation, the visitor could get a good sense of the size and geometry in which these works were constructed.  It would have made more sense to reconstruct the earthwork and then put in the parking lot and bathrooms, but what makes sense and the government is rarely agreeable.