Follow the beautiful Scioto Valley south out of Chillicothe to Waverly, with its historic district and Emmitt House Restaurant, and to a string of mounds, geometric remains, and historic houses along Wakefield Mound Road south of Piketon. On the opposite side of the Scioto River, a few miles before Portsmouth, the irregular Tremper Mound lies beneath the western bluff. The city of Portsmouth, with remains of a huge complex of earthworks, stands at the most dramatic river confluence in the region.

Going south out of Chillicothe, either take Route 23/104 through the hills, or follow Three Locks Road along the Scioto River as it flows south between the huge, steep bluffs of its Teays-Age (pre-glacial) valley. This route along the base of the western river bluffs is also following the old canal bed, visible in aerial photos as lines of trees, and occasionally on the ground as an extra-large ditch, most of the way to the Ohio River.

Take US 23 south out of Piketon and turn left onto State Route 32, then immediately left again into a dead end spur that reaches Mound Cemetery in Wakefield, with several Adena-era mounds.

A large, Adena-era conjoined mound stands in the center of the cemetery, topped by a flag and surrounded by graves both old and new. Early white settlers typically recognized the ancient mounds as sacred sites of burial, and one way of attempting respect, and ensuring preservation, was to plan new cemeteries around them. The large mound is linked to smaller segments by a large, unusual, undulating “apron” form.

One million years ago, the giant river valleys around this spot belonged to the pre-glacial Teays River. North America’s largest river system used to flow northward here, before being gradually dammed up by the glaciers and then reversing course. Here at Piketon was a major confluence, a huge landmark on the continent’s primordial surface. The valleys are still clearly visible as they converge on this spot: one now holding the south-flowing Scioto, the other, tiny “Big Beaver Creek.”

A cemetery south of Piketon preserves a complex, conjoined, Adena era mound; Teays River bluffs are visible in the distance.

Continue south (from SR 32) on Wakefield Mound Road past several early nineteenth century houses, notably the Barnes House (3 miles south of the Route 32 intersection, on the left), where Abraham Lincoln stayed while visiting the impressive earthworks which stood directly across the road (now only traces). This square is the only one known to have aligned with the cardinal points, its gateways opening due north, south, east, and west. The site is now largely lost to gravel quarries.

This huge circle and square stood at the time on land owned by the prominent Barnes Family (hence the effort to re-name it the Barnes Works), who, obviously impressed with the earthworks, built their stately brick mansion exactly on the cross-axis of the ancient square.

Squier and Davis drew the “Seal Township” Earthworks, a perfect circle plus the only major geometric earthwork (the square) aligned north-south.

Continuing south from Sargents, cross the river above Lucasville and follow SR 104 toward Portsmouth. Just past the intersection with SR 73, the Tremper Mound will appear in a slightly-rising field on the right. Excavations beneath its irregular shape uncovered remains of a complex Hopewell-era mortuary building. Twelve basins were probably used for cremation. Remains from about 300 people were accumulated here.

Tremper is best known for its buried collection of 60 effigy smoking pipes, their bowls elegantly carved into the figures of Woodland animals, birds, and humans. Many of these pipes exactly match a collection found at Mound City, 40 miles upstream along the Scioto.

In the form of the pipes, we can recognize the faces and paws, the bills and wings of creatures common in Ohio Valley woods and meadows. Their stone bodies were beautifully formed and meticulously incised. But they were all ritually broken before being buried, to release or to cut their spiritual power.

The Tremper mound is now managed by the Arc of Appalachia Preserve System.

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Reverence for the spirits of animals, clear in the Tremper pipes, lives on among contemporary Native people.

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Gerard Baker (Mandan-Hidatsa) tells of a tradition that may explain why the pipes at Mound City and Tremper Mound were broken deliberately.

The city of Portsmouth occupies a spectacular setting, an understandable site for the elaborate earthworks now best depicted on the floodwall murals along the riverfront. This was also the site of a large Indian settlement at the time of European contact, called Lower Shawnee Town. Evidence from here suggests the continuous Native habitation and cultural practices from antiquity up until contact in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

To appreciate the scope of the Portsmouth complex (and other topics in the area) visit the website sciotohistorical.org, in particular the “Portsmouth Earthworks Complex” and the “Art of the Ancients Exhibition” at the Southern Ohio Museum (825 Gallia Street, 740-354-5629). An excellent series of murals along the riverfront depicts the history of the town, starting with a beautiful sunrise over the earthworks, at the far left.

The earthwork complex here once stretched for miles, across terraces on both sides of the Ohio River. Now only fragments remain. To reach the best preserved sections, in Horseshoe Mounds Park, go north out of downtown about one mile on US 23, then right on Kinney’s Lane for ¾ mile, then south on Hutchins Avenue for 2 blocks.

Here in this park, a single, large, horseshoe-shaped earthwork opens to the south and hints at one of the region’s most elaborate complexes. The 1848 drawing shows how, from these two encircled horseshoe-shapes, earthen lines extended in every direction, and even across the Ohio River. About ten miles of wide, walled roadways connected several remarkable features.

The complex extended over onto the Kentucky side, where the Biggs Mound survives today, ringed by its moat. Another mound, surrounded by multiple walls, was mapped, but never found by modern archaeologists. This is the most dramatic river confluence in the region, where the Ohio is joined by the Scioto from the north, flowing down through the Hopewell heartland. At this major crossroads, settlement seems to have been continuous: Early European traders found a thriving Shawnee Indian town here.

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Eastern Shawnee Chief Glenna Wallace describes her tribe’s exile from Ohio in 1830.

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Eastern Shawnee Chief Glenna Wallace explains how having a voice in the uses of the earthworks today can help keep a connection between her tribe in Oklahoma and their old homeland in Ohio.

This depiction of Ancient Portsmouth at sunrise begins the riverfront’s historical mural series.

Across the river in South Portsmouth, Kentucky, the Old Fort Earthworks have recently been preserved with help from the Archaeological Conservancy. On private land (permission is available, inquire locally), they lie about 1½ miles west of the Route 23 Ohio River bridge, down a narrow lane on the right. The beautiful square enclosure is well preserved among a handful of small houses, its ancient orientation perfectly diagonal to the cardinal points. Archaeologist Gwynn Henderson:

One thing I found interesting is that the square is oriented north-south, so that one of the points is totally north. The folks who built this earthwork were going to put it there, irrespective of what kind of topography was on that spot. They filled in ditches, and they cut away certain topographic features, to ensure that the square was oriented the way they wanted it to orient.

Processions to the square for ceremonies probably followed the wide passageways. Even centuries after the earthwork building culture faded, the square’s interior remained clean – no debris from either settlements or workshops!

I think we might infer that the reason why there are not materials from subsequent peoples living right there is that they appreciated, understood, respected, feared, what had gone on. Or maybe there had been stories passed down through the generations, across the centuries, such that they knew sort of generally, what it had been used for, what its purpose was, the kinds of things that went on there, and so, out of respect for the folks who had been long ago, they didn’t live there in a domestic situation.

Today the square is still impressive, preserved by caring landowners and the privately funded Archaeological Conservancy.