Hopewell Culture National Historical Park | SEIP EARTHWORKS

Seip Earthworks unit of Hopewell Culture National Historical Park

Seip Earthworks unit of Hopewell Culture National Historical Park

VISITING THE SEIP EARTHWORKS

Seip Earthworks is a unit of Hopewell Culture National Historical Park that is located at 7078 U.S. Route 50 in Bainbridge, Ohio. In addition to the archeological site, there is a picnic pavilion. The grounds are open year-round from sunrise to sunset.

Picnic pavilion at the Seip Earthworks unit of Hopewell Culture National Historical Park

Picnic pavilion at the Seip Earthworks unit of Hopewell Culture National Historical Park

Seip Earthworks is a complex of earthen geometric shapes built sometime between 1 AD and 400 AD. It consisted of two large circles and a square. Over two miles of walls that were as tall as ten feet enclosed the 90-acre site. Inside were buildings and earthen mounds, including the third largest burial mound built by the Hopewell people (240 feet by 160 feet by 30 feet tall). All of these earthworks were created by digging millions of baskets full of dirt from one location and dumping them at another. What is most interesting is that there are many other Native American earthwork sites in the Chillicothe area that feature similar arrangements and shapes of the exact same sizes.

Local adventurers / amateur archeologists mapped the Seip Earthworks in the early to mid-1800s, recording the dimensions and locations of the structures before the farmers eventually plowed nearly everything under to create more farmland. Anything left standing was eventually torn down by the archeologists who excavated the site between 1926 and 1928. They were more hellbent on finding items to sell to collectors and museums than actually learning anything. By today’s standards they would be labeled as looters.

The large burial mound and the section of the earthen wall now on the grounds of Seip are actually modern reconstructions. In fact, all mounds and walls at any unit of Hopewell Culture National Historical Park were built by the Ohio Historical Society or the National Park Service between the 1920s and 1970s.

HIKING THROUGH THE SEIP EARTHWORKS

Trail Length:  1.8-mile loop
Time:  1 hour
Difficulty: Easy

Before starting the hike, be sure you have the Seip Earthworks brochure. It has a trail map and information about the site. There is a brochure box in the parking lot, but there is no guarantee that it will be stocked. The safer bet is to get one at the Mound City Group Visitor Center, which is where everyone should start their visit to Hopewell Culture National Historical Park.

Map for the Seip Earthwork complex (click to enlarge)

Map for the Seip Earthwork complex (click to enlarge)

A hiking trail leads from the parking lot through the former earthwork complex to an observation deck overlooking Paint Creek. The trail is out in the open the entire way, so be sure to wear a hat and apply sunscreen if avoiding the sun is important to you.

There is no obvious trail to start out on, but according to the park map, the hike begins next to the picnic pavilion. Just start walking down the field towards the reconstructed burial mound, which you can’t miss.

Start of the trail through the Seip Earthworks unit of Hopewell Culture National Historical Park

Start of the trail through the Seip Earthworks unit of Hopewell Culture National Historical Park

The trail through the Seip Earthworks unit of Hopewell Culture National Historical Park passes through a gap in the reconstructed earthen wall

The trail through the Seip Earthworks unit of Hopewell Culture National Historical Park passes through a gap in the reconstructed earthen wall

On the way to the mound is an area with a bunch of short posts sticking out of the ground. This is where a group of buildings once stood, most likely artisan workshops of some sort. The posts mark spots where wooden posts used in the construction were placed into the ground.

Site of buildings that once stood within the Seip Earthwork complex at Hopewell Culture National Historical Park

Site of buildings that once stood within the Seip Earthwork complex at Hopewell Culture National Historical Park

As you can imagine, it took a lot of baskets of dirt to build the mounds and walls and a lot of people to fill those baskets. However, only 122 remains were found at Seip Earthworks, not a lot given the 400-plus years that the Hopewell people lived in this area. While on the surface this suggests a very small population, it would take hundreds, if not thousands of people to build the earthworks in any reasonable amount of time. So obviously not everyone was buried within the Seip mound complex. It would make more sense that those buried here were VIPs and that there were thousands of ordinary people living in the area who could provide labor when called.

There were no burials within the actual mounds at any of the Hopewell archeological sites. Instead, there originally stood a wooden ceremonial building of some sort (a shine or charnel house) with a clay floor. Most of the dead who were buried at Seip were cremated (this was done at another location), but there were some traditional burials as well. Remains would have been interred in earthen platforms along with items that were perhaps important to the deceased individual or that family members wanted buried along with the remains. Many of these items were finely crafted works, further suggesting those buried at Seip were not ordinary people. Then, for unknown reasons—perhaps a royal line was ended or the burial area was full—the building was burned down and a mound of dirt was built on top of the ruins. What the mound represented is unknown, but perhaps it was similar to a tombstone or designed to prevent others from looting or disturbing the graves.

Seip Mound at the Seip Earthworks unit of Hopewell Culture National Historical Park

Seip Mound at the Seip Earthworks unit of Hopewell Culture National Historical Park

The Seip Mound was built in two stages. The first stage was directly after the destruction of the ceremonial building. Some logs remained, and when these eventually rotted away the mound sagged into the cavity that was formed. The second stage was a restoration of the mound in response to the partial collapse.

Western end of the Seip Mound at the Seip Earthworks unit of Hopewell Culture National Historical Park

Western end of the Seip Mound at the Seip Earthworks unit of Hopewell Culture National Historical Park

There are distinct, mowed paths cut through the tall grass on the west side (right) and rear of the mound. This is where the loop portion of the hike starts, so whichever trailhead you take to begin, you will return to the mound at the other spot. I started at the path on the right and hiked around the trail in the counterclockwise direction. This report is written from that perspective.

Trail to the right of the Seip Mound at the Seip Earthworks unit of Hopewell Culture National Historical Park

Trail to the right of the Seip Mound at the Seip Earthworks unit of Hopewell Culture National Historical Park

Just a short ways down the trail is a circular-shaped mowed area surrounded by tall grass. This marks the location of a small, walled circle (not one of the main circles). To accomplish this effect, the National Park Service mows the interior of the circle as well as a path around the outside of where the original wall would have been, leaving the tall grass to represent the wall.

Small circle west of the Seip Mound at the Seip Earthworks unit of Hopewell Culture National Historical Park

Small circle west of the Seip Mound at the Seip Earthworks unit of Hopewell Culture National Historical Park

Tall grass marks the location of a former earthen wall around a small circle west of the Seip Mound at the Seip Earthworks unit of Hopewell Culture National Historical Park

Tall grass marks the location of a former earthen wall around a small circle west of the Seip Mound at the Seip Earthworks unit of Hopewell Culture National Historical Park

The trail forks just beyond the circle. The path to the left is part of a mowing to create a patch of tall grass that denotes the location of the main wall of the earthwork. The trail to follow is the fork to the right, and a sign at the intersection points the way. Notice that the wall has a mowed path all the way around it. There are many mowed areas that mark off former earthworks, and it is easy to confuse these with the actual hiking trail. Use the trail signage for navigation.

Hiking trail at the Seip Earthworks cuts through tall grass that marks the location of the original site wall, Hopewell Culture National Historical Park

Hiking trail at the Seip Earthworks cuts through tall grass that marks the location of the original site wall, Hopewell Culture National Historical Park

Tall grass marks the location of the original site wall at the Seip Earthworks unit of Hopewell Culture National Historical Park

Tall grass marks the location of the original site wall at the Seip Earthworks unit of Hopewell Culture National Historical Park

The observation deck on the Paint River comes .9 mile from the parking lot. It was pretty far from the creek when I visited, so perhaps the area floods often. Trees and other vegetation have grown up along the riverbank, so there is no longer much of a view. There are two wayside exhibits on the platform that discuss the geology of the creek and how the Hopewell people used it as a source of food and raw materials.

Paint Creek observation deck at the Seip Earthworks unit of Hopewell Culture National Historical Park

Paint Creek observation deck at the Seip Earthworks unit of Hopewell Culture National Historical Park

View of Paint Creek from the Seip Earthworks unit of Hopewell Culture National Historical Park

View of Paint Creek from the Seip Earthworks unit of Hopewell Culture National Historical Park

When heading back, take the trail that follows along the tree line (the other is the path you arrived on). This allows you to complete the loop instead of walking back the way you just came and seeing the same things twice. A sign points the way.

Return route from the Paint Creek Overlook at the Seip Earthworks unit of Hopewell Culture National Historical Park

Return route from the Paint Creek Overlook at the Seip Earthworks unit of Hopewell Culture National Historical Park

Typical terrain on the trail through the Seip Earthworks unit of Hopewell Culture National Historical Park

Typical terrain on the trail through the Seip Earthworks unit of Hopewell Culture National Historical Park

The trail eventually comes to the large square geometric shape and the tall grass that marks the location of the wall around it. Six mowed paths converge here, so it is a little confusing as to which way to proceed. Straight ahead is a small circle of tall grass with a mowed path around it. According to the map, this circle was just inside the entrance of the square. There were four entrances, one at the center of each wall, and there was a small circular structure just inside of each one. What they were used for, nobody knows.

Six-way intersection at the western wall of the square geometric shape at the Seip Earthworks unit of Hopewell Culture National Historical Park

Six-way intersection at the western wall of the square geometric shape at the Seip Earthworks unit of Hopewell Culture National Historical Park

Small circle just inside the wall of the square geometric shape at the Seip Earthworks unit of Hopewell Culture National Historical Park

Small circle just inside the wall of the square geometric shape at the Seip Earthworks unit of Hopewell Culture National Historical Park

Two parallel trails run left and right of where you arrive at the intersection. The tall grass in between them marks the location of the original earthen wall. To get back to the parking lot, turn left on either one of these. You can see the Seip Mound, so do whatever it takes to head in that direction. Once you are at the mound, just make your way back to the parking lot any way you can. Again, there is no distinct trail between the mound and parking lot.

Trail back to the Seip Mound at the Seip Earthworks unit of Hopewell Culture National Historical Park

Trail back to the Seip Mound at the Seip Earthworks unit of Hopewell Culture National Historical Park

If it is a nice day, the hike through the Seip Earthworks is wonderful. Most of it is through a meadow full of wildflowers, and it does pass a number of interesting historical features. Of the hikes around the four units of Hopewell Culture National Historical Park, this was my favorite.

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Last updated on May 3, 2024
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