The Ohio Historical Society (OHS) has approved moving forward with a
National Park Service study to examine whether the historic Newark
Earthworks should become part of the national park system. The results
of the study could have consequences for the private Moundbuilders
Country Club, which operates its golf course on land leased from the
OHS.
The Newark Earthworks, built by the Hopewell Indians between 100 B.C.
and 500 A.D., rank as the largest set of connected geometric earthen
enclosures in the world. One major segment, the Octagon Earthworks, is
referred to as “the Stonehenge of the New World,” because it includes a
2,000-year-old “moon clock.” In 2006, the state of Ohio designated the
Earthworks as “the official prehistoric monument of the state.”
Moundbuilders CC was founded in 1910 and ranks as one of Ohio’s oldest
private clubs. Its golf course, designed by Thomas Bendelow, is
designed with features of the Octagon Earthworks coming into play on
eleven holes. A viewing platform for the Octagon Earthworks is provided
near a club parking lot, and guidelines for visitors are posted at the
site.
The Moundbuilders property is leased through the Ohio Historical
Society as part of an agreement that runs through 2078. A recent
article in the Newark Advocate.com
described the relationship between the club and “those interested in
keeping the historial site open to visitors” as “strained” and noted
that “visitors to this portion of the [Octagon Earthworks] remaining
mounds can as easily hear the yell of ‘Fore’ as they can sit in quiet
contemplation of the moundbuilders’ accomplishments.”
In many ways, the article acknowledged, “the relationship has kept the
2,000-year-old mounds from encroachment and preserved them for future
generations.” But the OHS’ decision to move forward with the National
Park Service study will now reopen the question of “whether any way
exists to ask the club to vacate the property and move elsewhere,” if
national park status, as well as impending recognition of the mounds as
a World Heritage site, “add to their notoriety and increase the number
of people who want to visit and study the Earthworks.”
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