Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks (Chillicothe, Ohio)

You may have heard of mound builders in American history, and Hopewell Culture National Historic Park in Ohio gave us a glimpse into the traditions of the ancient native peoples of this continent.

The mounds are over 2,000 years old, and span a period of about 400 years. The mounds themselves are burial mounds. At this particular site in Chillicothe, Ohio, all of the burials were cremated, while burials at all other sites were not. It is suspected that this location may have been a religious center, and that the burials here were of shaman's or priests.

Artifacts are also found within the burial mounds, made from resources from all over the continent: grizzly bear teeth from the Rockies, shark teeth from the Atlantic, shells from the Gulf of Mexico, copper from the Great Lakes, and so on. It is believed that burials at this site were of notable individuals from all across the continent, who were brought here for the specific purpose of being buried (also making sense why the remains were cremated, making it much easier to be carried across miles and miles of territory).

Nobody knows who these people were, as they pre-date the tribes we know of from this region. The name Hopewell comes from the name of the farmer who discovered these mounds on his property.

Things to Do

We had the opportunity to attend one of their Ranger Programs. While the program was primarily geared for adults, it was very easy for my children to follow along and ask questions. Park Rangers are trained to accommodate students of all ages. I strongly recommend attending the ranger program at this park, as it would have been difficult to understand what we were seeing without the ranger's explanations.

The ranger also had many recreated artifacts (the originals are far too precious) that we were able to examine and hold.

There are a couple of trails that go through the woods to view additional mounds in a more natural setting. We were short on time and were not able to do this.

Activities for Kids

This park offers a Junior Ranger program for kids to earn a badge. The booklets may be picked up at the front desk of the visitor center. The booklets take about 1-2 hours, depending on the age and number of activities required. When complete, the kids gets their very own Junior Ranger badges.

A Quick Note

This site is considered sacred by many indigenous groups, and should be treated with reverence and respect. Make sure your children understand that yelling, shouting, and running through the site is unacceptable. Climbing on the mounds is also strictly forbidden. If your child is not ready to exercise obedience and self-control, you may want to wait for them to grow and mature before attending this park.

We all enjoyed our time here and learned so much about a nearly forgotten culture. If you happen to stop by this park, get ready to learn something new!

Happy travels!

New River Gorge (Lansing, West Virginia)

The New River Gorge area is absolutely worth the stop, and our favorite part to visit is the bridge, so we stop at the Canyon Rim Visitor Center. We've been to the area twice now, and it is a nice respite from our usual drive through West Virginia. 

Things to Do

If you don't have a lot of time, I highly recommend walking the short boardwalk trail to the two observation decks to view the vast expanse of the gorge itself, but also of the steel bridge. There are a lot of stairs, but many places to stop and rest along the way. The way down is easy, it's going up that's the challenge! Our two-year-old made it just fine.

It is around 170 stairs to the lookout, and it's all shaded under a canopy of trees. I found a lovely Yellow Swallowtail butterfly enjoying this native milkweed for an afternoon snack. It's not just for monarchs!

The ranger at the visitor center told us that there's a 30-minute drive on a one-way road that takes us underneath the bridge and across the river. We were making really good time, so we went ahead and did it. The views of the New River Gorge from above are spectacular, but the views of the bridge from below are just as amazing. The pictures truly do not do the bridge itself any justice. This was no doubt a extraordinary undertaking of master engineering.

When we finally reached the bottom of the gorge, we came across an old wooden bridge to take us over the river. It also gave us another great view of the much larger bridge in the distance. 

It was a lovely drive and I'm so glad we were able to do it. Perhaps one day we'll be able to explore more of the New River Gorge itself.

 Activities for Kids

The park has a Junior Ranger program for all ages. We had printed booklets for the older kids to be working on in the van, as we knew we'd be short on time, but the park ranger saw we had a younger little one with us and provided her with a Junior Junior Ranger booklet that she was very happy to fill out. At the After getting their badges, we walked to the bridge overlook. We've made this trek once before, but it was fun to have our 2-year-old along with us this time. She was also so proud to have her first badge.

Happy travels!