Shiels: A brief history of the Newark Earthworks and what comes next

Moonrise at the Octagon Earthworks in Newark, on Jan. 2, 2007. (Photo by Timothy E. Black)
Moonrise at the Octagon Earthworks in Newark, on Jan. 2, 2007. (Photo by Timothy E. Black)

Nearly 2,000 years ago ancestors of today’s American Indians built incredible earthworks in what is today Newark and Heath, Ohio: a circle 1,200 feet in diameter, a square whose walls each measured 940 to 950 feet, an ellipse enclosing multiple burial mounds and an octagon connected to a circle which aligns with the 18.6-year lunar cycle.

Portions of the square and the ellipse remain visible today. The Great Circle and the Octagon are largely intact.

In 1854 a group of Newark residents formed an organization to purchase and preserve the Great Circle. It became the county fairgrounds and later an amusement park.

In 1892 Licking Countians voted to raise their own taxes to purchase the Octagon. Here in the City of Newark, the vote was 3 to 1. Jeff Gill argues this was the first time Americans voted to raise their own taxes to save an important site.

Taxpayers approved the purchase with the understanding that the site would be used as a training ground for Ohio’s national guard. The deed was given to the Newark Board of Trade which has been compared to a chamber of commerce. When the guard moved to another location, the Board of Trade leased it to a newly formed golf club which consisted largely of its own members. Some on the City Council protested but a judge found their action to be legal.

The deeds to both the Great Circle and the Octagon were given to the city of Newark in the 1930s after both the amusement park at the Great Circle and the Newark Board of Trade had gone bankrupt. The city council then gave both sites to the Ohio Archaeological and Historical Society which is today called the Ohio History Connection. The expectation was that both sites would become state historical parks. However, the lease to the golf club has been extended several times. It now extends to 2078.

The Ohio History Connection is in the process of buying out the lease. After several years of unsuccessfully negotiating with the club, it has gone to court. Ohio law requires the OHC to purchase and manage important historic sites and says that the Attorney General will initiate eminent domain procedures when necessary. Mike Dewine, the Attorney General who did just that, is now the governor.

The country club went to court to keep the lease. Judge David Branstool decided that the Ohio History Connection has the right to take it back and a three-judge appeals court has agreed with him. The country club appealed to the Ohio Supreme Court which is expected to release its decision any day now.

Why is this happening now, nearly 120 years after the country club took over the site?

The answer lies in how much we have learned about our earthworks and how much we have evolved as a culture.

Earlham College professors Ray Hively and Robert Horn rediscovered that the Octagon was built to align with the 18.6 year cycle of the moon. Ohio History Connection archaeologist Bradley Lepper taught us a great deal about our earthworks and the Great Hopewell Road from the Octagon to Chillicothe. The Ohio State University created the Newark Earthworks Center on its Newark Campus.

And we are living through a fundamental cultural change. We call our new perspective “multi-culturalism.” We are learning to value and respect the achievements of American Indians and multiple other cultures across the world.

We can appreciate the role of the country club in preserving the site while applauding this important change.

Dr. Richard Shiels is an Emeritus Associate Professor at the Ohio State University and the founding Director of Ohio State’s Newark Earthworks Center.

This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: Newark earthworks supreme court decision