Jeffers Mound

On the western edge of Worthington, close to the Olentangy River, Jeffers Mound is a Hopewell tradition burial mound dating to roughly 100 BCE–500 CE. It is one of the few surviving examples of Hopewell earthworks in the Columbus metropolitan area — a reminder that the landscape of central Ohio was substantially shaped by Indigenous peoples long before European settlement.

The mound stands about five metres tall and is preserved in a small park setting. It is not an elaborate site — there are no interpretive facilities on par with the Newark Earthworks or Mound City — but it is accessible and free, and for anyone interested in Ohio's pre-contact history it is worth the short detour. The surrounding park along the Olentangy is pleasant for a short walk.

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A story
Jeffers Mound is one of hundreds of Hopewell burial mounds that once dotted the Ohio landscape. The Hopewell culture, active roughly 100 BCE to 500 CE, built an extraordinary network of earthworks across the Ohio and Illinois river valleys — some of the largest prehistoric earthworks in North America. Most have been ploughed under, quarried, or built over. Jeffers Mound survived because it was incorporated into a private estate and later donated to the city.

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