Miamisburg Mound

Miamisburg Mound is a conical burial mound of the Adena culture, dated by construction details found in excavation to within the broad span of about 800 BCE to 100 CE (Ohio History Connection). It stands 65 feet tall with an 800-foot circumference and contains an estimated 54,000 cubic yards of earth, raised in stages on a ridge that lifts it visibly above the Great Miami River valley; Ohio History Connection counts it among the two largest conical mounds in eastern North America. An 1869 excavation found a layer of flat stones overlapping like roof shingles 24 feet below the surface, suggesting the mound may once have had a stone facing, along with burials and ceremonial goods (Ohio History Connection; contemporary Dayton Daily News reporting).

Its later history is part of the story. Charles F. Kettering, the Dayton inventor, bought the mound and turned it into a park in 1920, and it passed to the Ohio History Connection for preservation in 1929; the city of Miamisburg manages it locally today (Wikipedia, citing Ohio History Connection). The Mound Laboratory built for the Manhattan Project across the street took its name from the mound, an odd neighbor that says a lot about the twentieth century. Ohio History Connection notes that roughly 10,000 mounds and earthworks once stood in the central Ohio Valley and about 1,000 survive, which places this mound among the survivors of a much larger ceremonial landscape. Steps lead to a top platform with a wide view; the mound is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (1971).

Visiting

The mound is owned by the Ohio History Connection and managed locally by the city of Miamisburg. It is open daily during all daylight hours, and admission is free. A climbable stairway leads to the stone observation platform at the top; allow about 30 minutes. Contact (Ohio History Connection): 866-580-6508.

Photo: JacquesDemien, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons ([source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Miamisburg_Mound,_Miamisburg,_Ohio_03.jpg))