Greenwood Village: Prehistoric Earthwork

A wayside exhibit with information about this prehistoric earthwork.

NPS / Arrye Rosser

Quick Facts

Location:

Park at Red Lock Trailhead, 1175 Highland Road, Sagamore Hills, Ohio 44067. Walk north on the Towpath Trail to the Old Carriage Trail.

Significance:

This site is one of two sites recorded by Colonel Charles Whittlesey in the valley, and the only one a trail passes through. Archeologists believe this site was used from 800-1,600 years ago for ceremonies.

Designation:

Ohio and Erie Canalway National Heritage Area, Ohio to Erie Trail, Industrial Heartland Trail Network

Amenities

2 listed

Audio Description, Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits

The area around this site is now deeply wooded. Yet between 800 and 1,600 years ago, the area was once an important ceremonial site for the people of the early Late Woodland period. These native peoples lived in permanent villages, with fields of corn on the river bottoms below. Imagine instead of the birdcalls of the woods, the sounds of people gathering for an important religious event, perhaps singing, dancing, or chanting. Archeologists believe that people came to this high, flat spot surrounded by ravines for ceremonies. Linear earthworks mark the location. Excavations found large earth ovens, but no evidence of homes.

This ceremonial site was first recorded and described by Charles Whittlesey in 1847. Twenty years later, the site had been deeply disturbed by plowing. Please help us maintain these earthworks by staying on the trail, so other peoples after you can wonder about the life of these early inhabitants.