Newark Earthworks

UNESCO World Heritage Site — the largest geometric earthworks in the world, built 2,000 years ago

The Newark Earthworks are the largest surviving set of geometric earthen enclosures in the world, built by the Hopewell culture between roughly 100 BC and 500 AD. Three sections survive: the Great Circle (nearly 1,200 feet in diameter, with an interior moat), the Octagon Earthworks (a precise eight-sided enclosure connected to a perfect circle, aligned with the 18.6-year lunar cycle), and the smaller Wright Earthworks nearby. In 2023 the site was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site as part of the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks group.

The Great Circle is managed as a state park and is freely accessible; walk around and through the earth walls, which in places rise nearly eight feet. The Octagon Earthworks are leased to a golf club — a peculiar arrangement — but are open to the public without charge on certain days each month. The on-site museum at the Great Circle explains the Hopewell culture and the engineering that produced the earthworks.

things to do sight museum
A story
The Newark Earthworks were originally far larger than what survives today. The full complex once covered four square miles and included the Great Circle, the Octagon, the Wright Earthworks, and an extensive system of parallel walls and avenues connecting them. Most was destroyed by development in the 19th and early 20th centuries. What remains is extraordinary; what was lost defies the imagination.

Other places in Things to Do