Ohio’s landscape holds secret treasures that many residents drive past without noticing. Hidden in plain sight are monuments that tell fascinating stories about our state’s rich past. From ancient Native American earthworks to memorials of forgotten heroes, these overlooked landmarks deserve more attention from history lovers and curious travelers alike.
1. Leatherlips Monument’s Tragic History
A massive stone face emerges from the earth in Dublin’s Scioto Park, honoring a Wyandot chief whose story embodies the tragic clash between native peoples and white settlers. Chief Leatherlips (Shateyaronyah) earned his English nickname for his unwavering honesty and commitment to peace with American settlers.
His loyalty to treaties signed with the United States ultimately cost him his life. In 1810, rival tribal members executed him for allegedly practicing witchcraft – though historians believe his real crime was refusing to join Tecumseh’s resistance movement.
The 12-foot limestone sculpture created in 1990 by Boston artist Ralph Helmick ensures his story isn’t forgotten.
2. Serpent Mound’s Mysterious Origins
Coiled atop a plateau in Adams County rests America’s most famous serpent effigy. This 1,348-foot-long earthen sculpture winds gracefully across the landscape, depicting a massive snake with an open mouth.
Ancient peoples created this masterpiece around 300 BCE, though exactly who built it remains debated among archaeologists. The Fort Ancient culture likely modified it around 1100 CE.
Visitors today can walk the perimeter trail and climb an observation tower for the best views of this prehistoric wonder that aligns perfectly with the summer solstice sunset.
3. Marietta Earthworks: Ohio’s First Preservation
Standing at the meeting point of two mighty rivers, the Marietta Earthworks represent one of America’s earliest preservation efforts. When settlers founded Marietta in 1788, they took extraordinary steps to protect these ancient Hopewell culture mounds.
The complex features geometric walled enclosures, the impressive Conus burial mound, and the mysterious Sacra Via – a sacred road connecting river to ritual space. Early maps show many more structures now lost to development.
Mound Cemetery, built within one of the enclosures, became the final resting place for Revolutionary War officers and early pioneers.
4. Alligator Effigy’s Puzzling Shape
Perched on a hilltop near Granville sits a curious earthwork that doesn’t quite match its name. Early settlers thought this 250-foot-long mounded soil formation resembled an alligator, but modern archaeologists suggest it more likely represents an underwater panther or other mythological creature.
Built between 800-1200 CE by the Fort Ancient culture, this rare effigy mound features curved legs, a rounded head, and a long, curled tail. The site may have served ceremonial purposes linked to astronomical events.
Unlike its famous cousin Serpent Mound, the Alligator receives far fewer visitors despite its historical significance.
5. Portsmouth Earthworks’ Scattered Remains
Once spanning both sides of the Ohio River, the Portsmouth Earthworks represented one of the most extensive ceremonial complexes built by ancient Ohioans. Today, only fragments remain scattered across Portsmouth and Kentucky.
The original design featured four major groups connected by earthen-walled roadways stretching over eight miles. These included circular enclosures, horseshoe-shaped walls, and parallel roads leading to the river.
Urban development claimed most of the complex, but the remaining mounds in Portsmouth’s city limits offer silent testimony to the engineering skills of the Adena and Hopewell peoples who created them thousands of years ago.
6. Fort Hill’s Ancient Walled Summit
Rising 500 feet above Paint Creek stands Fort Hill, crowned with stone and earthen walls that have guarded their secrets for two millennia. Early settlers assumed this was a military fortification, hence the name, but archaeologists now recognize it as a ceremonial enclosure built by the Hopewell culture.
The 1.5-mile stone wall encircles 48 acres of hilltop and required moving an estimated 10 million pounds of stone without metal tools or beasts of burden. Inside the walls, visitors find mysterious stone circles and depressions whose purposes remain unknown.
Surrounded by old-growth forest, the site feels remarkably untouched by time.
7. Fort Ancient’s Massive Hilltop Enclosure
Overlooking the Little Miami River, North America’s largest prehistoric hilltop enclosure commands attention from its strategic position. Despite its name, Fort Ancient wasn’t primarily a military installation but rather a ceremonial gathering place constructed by the Hopewell culture around 100 BCE.
The earthworks feature 3.5 miles of walls enclosing 100 acres, with 67 gateways precisely aligned with astronomical events. These walls, built by carrying countless baskets of soil, still stand up to 23 feet high in places.
Though designated a National Historic Landmark in 1964, many Ohioans have never visited this archaeological wonder in their own backyard.
8. Chesapeake Spire’s Bridge to Nowhere
Standing sentinel at the Ohio River’s edge, a solitary concrete pylon marks where the “Million Dollar Bridge” once connected Ohio to West Virginia. When the Silver Memorial Bridge replaced this aging span in 1969, most of the original structure was demolished.
Local officials saved one massive support tower, transforming it into a monument within Chesapeake Memorial Park. A plaque commemorates the original 1929 bridge that served as a vital transportation link for four decades.
Few travelers on nearby Route 7 realize the significance of this lonely concrete tower – a reminder of changing transportation networks that shaped Ohio’s river communities.
9. Leo Petroglyph’s Ancient Messages
Carved into a flat sandstone outcrop in Jackson County, mysterious symbols speak across millennia from ancient hands to modern eyes. The Leo Petroglyph features 37 distinct images – including footprints, birds, fish, and human figures – etched by the Fort Ancient culture approximately 1,000 years ago.
Protected by a small shelter house built in 1965, these fragile carvings offer rare insights into prehistoric Ohio cultures. The meanings behind many symbols remain uncertain, though some likely represent clan totems or spiritual beings.
Despite its archaeological significance, this small roadside site rarely appears on tourist itineraries, making it one of Ohio’s best-kept historical secrets.
10. Newark Earthworks’ Perfect Geometry
Mathematical precision from an ancient world awaits visitors to the remaining sections of what was once North America’s largest geometric earthwork complex. The Newark Earthworks originally covered more than four square miles with perfect circles, octagons, and squares built by the Hopewell culture 2,000 years ago.
The Great Circle Earthworks features a 1,200-foot diameter circular wall surrounding a moat, while the Octagon Earthworks demonstrates remarkable astronomical alignments with lunar cycles. Modern surveyors marvel at the geometric perfection achieved without modern tools.
Though partly destroyed by development, the surviving sections earned designation as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2023.
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