Hopewell Culture National Historical Park

Caleb Atwater

Uncover the hidden history of World War I in the national parks!

Although they don’t wear the National Park Service (NPS) standard uniform, volunteers are a vital part of NPS operations. Volunteer uniforms and insignia have changed over time, but each has represented the dedication of those who freely give their time and talents for the benefit of national parks and the American people.

While Hopewell Culture National Historical Park is known for its incredible collection of prehistoric earthworks and artwork created by the Hopewell culture, the park is also home to a wide array of flora and fauna. Read more about some of the smallest inhabitants of this national park site.

On Saturday, October 14, over 600 people gathered at Hopewell Culture National Historical Park. They were there to celebrate the creative genius of the American Indian people we now call the Hopewell culture, who designed and constructed earthen mounds and earthworks in southern Ohio along the banks and tributaries of the Scioto River.

Although the Hopewell mounds and earthworks of Ross County, Ohio are well known, many basic questions remain about the archeological sites and the American Indian people who built them.

By the end of 1918, the war was winding down as Allied forces close in on the Axis powers in Europe. At the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month, both sides met in a rail car at Le Francport near Compiègne and the fighting that had raged on for years and claimed millions of lives was all but over after the signatures were applied to the Armistice.

Before the U.S. Army built one of the largest military cantonments for WWI training purposes, the lands which would become part of Camp Sherman were already laden with history. The lands were used as Army training camps in the previous century, but more importantly, the lands were home to a prehistoric culture of American Indians that left thrived and flourished in the south-central Ohio valley over 2,000 years before Camp Sherman was even thought about.

In 2015, the park engaged in an international partnership to complete a high-resolution magnetic survey at Hopewell Mound Group in Ross County, Ohio. Together, this new partnership also tested the development of a new array to collect and analyze data.