Venerable Ohio country club loses fight to keep historic site as a golf course

My sister, Kris, and her husband, retired U.S. District Court Judge Gregory Frost recently came north from their home in South Carolina and celebrated an early Christmas with their children and grandchildren at Moundbuilders Country Club, which serves the Newark, Ohio area.

The happy gathering at the club may be their last one there because the club’s premises are about to be taken by eminent domain.

The grounds are leased from the Ohio History Connection, the not-for-profit successor to the Ohio Historical Society and The Ohio State Archeological and Historical Society.  The Ohio History Connection wants to acquire Moundbuilders leasehold interest, which is not scheduled to expire until 2078.

Two weeks ago, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled 6-1 in favor of the Ohio History Connection, which wants to repurpose the premises as a public park for the Octagon Earthworks and as a part of the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks that have been nominated for inclusion on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

As might be expected, passions regarding Moundbuilders Country Club run high.

Janet and I have attended a couple of Frost family events there. It is a beautiful country club, rated one of the best serving Central Ohio. Newark, 40 miles east of Columbus, has a population listed as approximately 50,000.

The city is near the site where Intel is building its huge computer chip factory. Moundbuilders features a Williamsburg-looking brick clubhouse, a swimming pool and a remarkable golf course with 11 of its 18 holes abutting and at least one hole nearly surrounded by ancient Hopewell mounds, most of them six feet tall.

Moundbuilders Country Club was incorporated in 1910 and leased the acreage from the city of Newark. Over the years, the lease was bought and sold and eventually became owned by the Ohio History Connection.

Golfpass.com says Moundbuilders golf course “has valuable cultural and historic significance, but it also offers an excellent round for players of all skill levels.”

More:Two scenarios on Moundbuilders Country Club as World Heritage public park

Moundbuilders asked for $12 million for the facility saying it would take that to pay off its debt and create another golf country club of the same value.  An independent appraisal five year ago valued the premises at $1.75 million. The Ohio History Connection offered $800,000.

The Ohio History Connection argues the mounds would be more properly used as the archaeological treasure they represent.  Believed to have been built more than 2,000 years ago, the mounds are considered an astronomical and geometric marvel.

It is said that once every 18.6 years, a person standing on the so-called “Observatory Mound” at Moundbuilders Country Club, can witness the rising moon hovering at the octagon’s exact center. The structure and placement indicate an ancient level of sophistication that equals that of whoever built Stonehenge in England, Justice Michael P. Donnelly wrote for the Ohio Supreme Court majority.

Tribal representatives of indigenous America support repurposing Moundbuilders as part of the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks.  Others say that if the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks are accepted by UNESCO as a world heritage site, Newark would benefit from increased tourism.  Famous World Heritage Sites include the Taj Mahal, Machu Picchu, and the Galapagos Islands. World Heritage Sites receive international funding for their protection.

The likelihood that as a park, much of the grounds of Moundbuilders Country Club would become a prairie of tall grass evokes comments that the club took better care of the mounds and their surroundings as a golf course.  Park advocates say the grounds as a park should be allowed to return to a typically wilder park condition. The nearby Newark Earthworks are also part of the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks and local critics of the Ohio History Connection say they are poorly maintained and policed and reflect badly on the cities of Newark and Heath.  Ohio History Connection supporters dispute this assessment.

Justice Sharon Kennedy, the only justice to vote against the eminent domain, will become chief justice of the Ohio Supreme Court in January.  In her argument, she said there is no guarantee that the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks will be accepted as Ohio’s World Heritage Site when it deliberates its application for that status next summer.

Justice Kennedy cited an earlier case ruling that said taking the land by eminent domain was not lawful if the public use of the land was contingent and prospective while the private use was “actual and present”.  Moundbuilders has asked for a review of the decision by the Ohio Supreme Court.

Ohio has no World Heritage Site so the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks would be the first.  The Ohio History Connection says having a country club in the configuration would doom its application for World Heritage status.

A more generous offer might ease the pain of eminent domain.

David E. Dix is a retired publisher of the Record-Courier.

This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Ohio History Connection to acquire historic site from country club