Great Circle Earthworks

Great Circle Earthworks, with an earthen wall that varies between five and fourteen feet in height, spans twelve-hundred feet across and encompasses thirty acres. Along the inside of the circle wall is a ditch or moat that ranges in depth from eight to thirteen feet. A separate mound, or series of small mounds, stands in the center of the Great Circle. Traditionally called the Eagle Mound due to its resemblance to a flying bird, it is possible that the mound represents an arrow or an animal print of some kind. The Eagle Mound stands on what had once been the site of a Hopewell great house. The Great Circle Earthworks was misunderstood by many European settlers as a fortification, and was referred to by most nineteenth-century inhabitants of the area as the "Old Fort." Others believed it to be the site of a monarch's center of power, or a place for games akin to the Olympics of ancient Greece, though some surmised that the structures had a grander, spiritual significance.

Despite the lack of understanding of the site’s function and the destruction of many of the embankments and smaller earthworks in the Licking River Valley, the Great Circle was preserved through a variety of civic and commercial uses in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The land was purchased in 1853 by a group of concerned citizens with the aim of preserving the site as a public gathering space. Once the site of the now defunct Licking County Fair, and even the State Fair, the Great Circle was also a military practice field, horse-racing track, and an amusement park known as Idlewild Park. By the 1930s, the Great Circle Earthworks was at risk again with the closure of the amusement park. The citizens and officials of Licking County, working together with the Ohio Historical Society and the Civilian Conservation Corps—one of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal initiatives—were able to clean and restore the grounds, maintaining it as an important historical and cultural site. The Great Circle Earthworks and Octagon Earthworks, along with other sites in the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks, are in the final stages of the application process to become a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Image 1: Sketch of the layout of the Great Circle and surrounding earthworks and embankments, many of which are now lost.

Image 2: Illustration from the 1875 Atlas of Licking County depicting structures and activities at the "Old Fort."

Image 3: 1904 photograph showing some of the structures and modern implements at the site.

Image 4: Photograph from 1911 showing picnickers on the Great Circle.

Image 5: Nineenth-century drawing of Great Circle Earthworks and the Eagle Mound.