Excursions among the monumental antiquities of these gorgeous hills and valleys should begin at Mound City, home of Hopewell Culture National Historical Park. The visitors center offers a fine artifact collection and orientation programs. Outside, walk among the 23 assembled mounds: each covers the remains of a funerary building. Some held spectacular collections such as effigy smoking pipes or shimmering blankets of mica.

The embracing enclosure here was likely a prototype for the more precise and complex geometric figures of later Hopewell-era monuments. A trail enters the forest along the banks of the Scioto River where, on the left, a long Graded Way resembles others at Stubbs or Marietta, and was probably the ancient ceremonial path up from the river.