Washingtown Township
Fort Ancient State Park and Museum
This park and museum are located about 8 miles east of Lebanon, Ohio, on OH. Rte. 350 in Washington Township. Fort Ancient contains the largest prehistoric Indian hilltop earthwork structure in North America. The structure consists of 3.5 miles of earthern mounds, ranging in height from 3 ft. to 23 feet enclosing a cleared area of about 746 acres on a bluff about 240 ft. above the bed of The Little Miami River. There are some 64 openings spaced among the mounds. These together with a number of stone mounds were used by the Hopewell Indians to calculate solar and lunar events for calendar and ceremonial purposes. This site is one of a number that the Hopewell people built in Ohio.
The site was occupied by the Hopewell and Adena people as well as others during the period of 800 B.C. to about 1500 A.D. Very massive excavation of soil on the bluff took place over a several hundred years with the soil then used to built the earth mounds. Limestone was quarried from the river bed below to help built the earth mounds as well as the aforementioned stone mounds. While the site was used as a social and ceremonial gathering place, it was occupied for much of the time. The Indians supported themselves with extensive farming of various food crops within the mound structure.
This site has been registered on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) and is designated as a National Historic Landmark. It has also been nominated as a “World Heritage Site”.
The state of Ohio purchased the property in 1891 and it then became the first state park in the state.
