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<< Image Pages >> Fort Hill - Hillfort in United States in Great Lakes Midwest

Submitted by bat400 on Thursday, 05 January 2017  Page Views: 9819

Iron Age and Later PrehistorySite Name: Fort Hill Alternative Name: Fort Hill State Memorial
Country: United States Region: Great Lakes Midwest Type: Hillfort
Nearest Town: Hillsboro  Nearest Village: Cynthiana
Latitude: 39.114000N  Longitude: 83.407W
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
3 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
4 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
4 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
4

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bat400 visited on 1st Jan 2000 - their rating: Cond: 2 Amb: 4 Access: 3

Fort Hill
Fort Hill submitted by Flickr : Fort Hill State Memorial Image copyright: tony.lombardi (Tony Lombardi), hosted on Flickr and displayed under the terms of their API. (Vote or comment on this photo)
Fort Hill is a Woodland culture site in Highland County, Ohio that most closely resembles a classic European hillfort, although it seems unlikely that it was used for defense. The enclosed area was not a village or settlement. The site is built around the crest of an isolated limestone outcrop.

Originally at the extreme end of a narrow ridge, the hilltop was cutoff (at the end of the last ice age) when Brush Creek at the base of one side undercut softer layers of stone, dividing the ridge. Just below the crest is an earthwork wall creating a sheer "tower" effect on the hilltop. The earthwork was thinly faced with small limestone slabs. The fort wall is pierced by more than two dozen openings without sign of stockade fencing or other barriers, although some argue that the site did serve as a defensive "fort."

The circumference of the hilltop is about a mile and a half long with about 40 acres enclosed. A narrow, irregular oval, the enclosure is a about a half mile long. There is a sloping ditch inside the enclosure and three depressions within the enclosure where water collects in wet weather.

To reach Fort Hill you climb a steep switchback trail up the side of the hill and through a major gateway of the enclosure. There is another very rough trail that winds down the opposite end of the hill. It's easy to drive to Fort Hill, but the hike up is a bit of a slog - although anyone even relatively fit could do it, given a little time. (In wet weather it would be exhausting once the trail gets good and soaked.) As the whole area is overgrown with trees and scrub in warm weather, and because the earthwork is at and below the very top of the hill, the immensity of the site is not immediately obvious. A second growth forest surrounds and hems in the natural hill, masking the fact that it is one of the highest points in the area.

A National Register of Historic Paces site since 1970. The NRHP Listing:
Historic Significance: Information Potential
Area of Significance: Prehistoric
Cultural Affiliation: Hopewell
Period of Significance: 499-0 BC, 499-0 AD, 1000-500 AD
Owner: State
Historic Function: Religion
Historic Sub-function: Ceremonial Site
Current Function: Landscape
Current Sub-function: Park

Owned by the State of Ohio, the site and the surrounding nature preserve is now managed by the Arc of Appalachia Preserve System. There is a parking area, restrooms, and tables for picnicking down on the flat. There is also a small museum and nature center that explains the geologic forces that produced the hill and what is known about the site. The high ridges, creek and heavy wood cover provides shelter for many native plants as well as an abundance of wild birds, deer and small animals. It's a great spot with an isolated atmosphere.

Arc of Appalachia Preserve System Fort Hill website.
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Fort Hill
Fort Hill submitted by Flickr : Fort Hill Loop Trail Image copyright: The Cleveland Kid (Tim), hosted on Flickr and displayed under the terms of their API. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Fort Hill
Fort Hill submitted by Flickr : View across the trees at Fort Hill Image copyright: Dave's Family Fotos, hosted on Flickr and displayed under the terms of their API. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Fort Hill
Fort Hill submitted by Flickr : Fort Hill State Memorial Image copyright: tony.lombardi (Tony Lombardi), hosted on Flickr and displayed under the terms of their API. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Fort Hill
Fort Hill submitted by durhamnature : Old photo, from "Masterpieces of the Mound Builders" via archive.org (Vote or comment on this photo)

Fort Hill
Fort Hill submitted by durhamnature

Fort Hill
Fort Hill submitted by durhamnature : Slightly different old plan, from "Mound Builders..." via archive.org

Fort Hill
Fort Hill submitted by durhamnature : Old plan drawing of vicinity from "Archaeological History of Ohio" via archive.org

Fort Hill
Fort Hill submitted by durhamnature : Old plan drawing from "Prehistoric America; The Mound Builders" via archive.org

Do not use the above information on other web sites or publications without permission of the contributor.
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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
 10.1km S 190° Serpent Mound, Ohio* Artificial Mound
 10.1km SSW 192° Serpent Mound Stone Standing Stone (Menhir)
 21.2km NE 49° Seip Mound* Artificial Mound
 21.2km NE 49° Seip Earthwork Enclosure* Misc. Earthwork
 27.1km NE 54° Baum Earthworks* Artificial Mound
 29.4km NE 53° Spruce Hill* Vitrified Fort
 34.3km ESE 101° Piketon Mounds* Artificial Mound
 35.1km NW 308° Ratcliffe Mound Artificial Mound
 35.2km W 272° Fort Salem Misc. Earthwork
 37.5km NNE 30° Frankfort Works Mound* Ancient Village or Settlement
 38.3km NE 44° Hopewell Mound Group* Artificial Mound
 39.9km NE 54° Steel Earthworks* Misc. Earthwork
 40.7km ENE 56° Junction Earthworks* Misc. Earthwork
 43.3km NE 54° Story Mound (Chillicothe)* Artificial Mound
 43.6km NE 52° Adena Mound* Artificial Mound
 45.2km NE 50° Hopewell Culture National Historic Site* Misc. Earthwork
 46.2km ENE 65° High Bank Works* Misc. Earthwork
 47.7km NE 50° Hopeton Earthworks* Artificial Mound
 48.4km ENE 70° Liberty Earthworks* Artificial Mound
 48.8km SE 135° Tremper* Barrow Cemetery
 48.9km NE 49° Cedar Banks Works* Ancient Village or Settlement
 55.5km SE 138° Portsmouth Earthworks* Misc. Earthwork
 59.6km NW 310° Hillside Haven Mound* Artificial Mound
 63.1km NW 320° Keiter Mound* Artificial Mound
 65.0km NE 38° Luthor List Mound* Artificial Mound
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"Fort Hill" | Login/Create an Account | 5 News and Comments
  
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2012 Activities at Fort Hill by bat400 on Saturday, 12 May 2012
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Sunday, May 20 , 2012. Exploring the Ancient Earthworks of Fort Hill

Co-sponsored with Hopewell Culture National Historical Park and Heartland Earthworks Conservancy. Although the planned program now has a full list of participants, see the description of the hike here, at the Arc of Appalachia website.

May 26, 2012. Ancient Skills: Cordage and Basketry.
June 16, 2012. Ancient Skills: Firemaking and Coalburning.
For the ancient skills activities, see their website: http://www.arcofappalachia.org/events/earth-stewardship.html.
[ Reply to This ]

Arc of Appalachia assumes operations of Ohio's Fort Hill by bat400 on Thursday, 30 July 2009
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From the Arc of Appalachia's e-newsletter:

On August 1st,2009, the Arc of Appalachia begins shouldering the day by day operations of Fort Hill and Serpent Mound in partnership with the sites’ owners and historical stewards, The Ohio Historical Society (OHS), and assisted at Serpent Mound by the worthy and time-tested volunteer group, Friends of Serpent Mound. To be in service to two important prehistoric earthwork sites, and, in the case of Fort Hill, the largest and most intact mature forest in all of south-central Ohio, is truly a sacred privilege for our organization.

A tribute to OHS. We commend the Ohio Historical Society for their staff’s courageous response to repeated budget cuts, cuts of such severity that they would have paralyzed a less innovative organization. OHS has applied dogged determination in keeping their numerous historical sites cared for and open to the public, overcoming nearly insurmountable hurdles in the process.

Volunteers Needed for Fort Hill's Museum – Let’s get it open! Fort Hill has a interpretive Museum that has been closed for several years due to the above-mentioned state budget cuts. The Ohio Historical Society, the Arc, and supportive neighbors in the Fort Hill region would love to see the Museum re-open its doors. If you wish to “man” or “woman” the nature center at Fort Hill on weekends this summer or fall, please contact our newest staff member, Fort Hill/Serpent Mound Manager Bruce Lombardo at museum@highlandssanctuary.org. We literally can’t do this without you.

We are raising money right now for THE LARGEST LAND ACQUISITION CAMPAIGN in the entire history of our organization. Among the new properties is -

140 acres at the entrance to Fort Hill Memorial. This piece of land lies on three corners of the intersection of SR 41 and Fort Hill Road. The tract includes .7 miles of shoreline along Bakers Fork, and a fine wetlands and bottomland forest that boasts the largest groves of young shellbark hickories and pin oaks we have ever seen. Purchasing this land will ensure that no additional housing will take place along the rapidly developing entrance to Fort Hill.

Successful inclusion in the Arc is completely contingent on raising sufficient funds.
[ Reply to This ]

Re: Fort Hill by Anonymous on Sunday, 13 May 2007
Thanks for your information. I just became aware of this site, and plan to visit it this next week. Appreciate the details that this site gives that are not on the other public sites.
[ Reply to This ]
    Fort Hill Photographs by bat400 on Monday, 14 May 2007
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    If you are visiting Fort Hill, please consider taking some photographs and submitting them to the Portal for listing with this site description.
    [ Reply to This ]
    Re: Fort Hill by Anonymous on Tuesday, 22 January 2008
    I just hiked this area on 1/20/2008 and I found the information from this site to be very helpful. This site had about the best description of the area that I could find anywhere on the web. Thank you.
    [ Reply to This ]

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