Ohio World Heritage Week celebrates Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks

The Ohio History Connection and the National Park Service will celebrate Ohio World Heritage Week, April 12-18, and World Heritage Day, April 18, with special events at the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks, Ohio’s first and only UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Hopewell Culture National Historical Park; The Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks

Ohio World Heritage Week celebrates Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks

Celebrate the first Ohio World Heritage Week from April 12-18, 2025, in honor of World Heritage Day on April 18.

The weeklong event highlights the Hopewell Earthworks, Ohio’s first and only UNESCO World Heritage Site, with free guided tours and activities at several historic locations across the state.

Guided Tours and Family-Friendly Events

Throughout the week, visitors can explore the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks with free guided tours at different locations, including:

Saturday, April 12: Fort Ancient Earthworks & Nature Preserve in Oregonia
10:30 a.m: Guided tour with Site Manager Bill Kennedy. Tour lasts 90 minutes to 2 hours.

Sunday, April 13: Great Circle Earthworks in Heath
Noon: Free guided tour led by Site Manager Sarah Hinkelman. Tour lasts 90 minutes to 2 hours.
2 p.m: Storytime: “Grandmother Spider Brings the Sun” with a fun make-and-take activity designed for children ages 3–10.

Monday, April 14: Hopeton Earthworks in Chillicothe
10 a.m: Free guided tour led by a Ranger. Architecture includes earthen monuments memorializing ancestral shrines and geometric enclosures aligned to the endless cycles of the Sun and Moon.

Tuesday, April 15: Hopewell Mound Group in Chillicothe
10 a.m: Free guided tour led by a Ranger. At 111 acres, the main enclosure here is the largest single Hopewell earthen-walled area ever found and contained the largest Hopewell burial mound ever built.

Wednesday, April 16: Seip Earthworks in Bainbridge
10 a.m: Free guided tour led by a Ranger. This massive complex includes burial mounds and a collection of circular structures.

Thursday, April 17: Mound City Group in Chillicothe
10 a.m: Free guided tour led by a Ranger. Fully recreated Hopewell earthwork complex managed by the National Park Service.

Friday, April 18: World Heritage Day at Octagon Earthworks in Newark
11 a.m. –2 p.m. Food trucks on site.
Noon: Free guided tour. Tour lasts 90 minutes to 2 hours.
3–4 p.m: Create-and-Take Activity for young visitors. We will read Joy Harjo’s “Remember,” have a short presentation on the stars and moon and discuss how other cultures might have thought about time. The activity will end with participants creating their own clock or calendar to take home.
3:30–6:30 p.m. Food trucks on site.
4:30–5:30 p.m: TED Talk-Style Panel Discussion: “What it Means to be a World Heritage Site” moderated by Site Manager Sarah Hinkelman, with opening remarks from Ohio History Connection Executive Director and CEO Megan Wood and Q&A session to wrap up.
5:30–6:30 p.m. World Heritage Ambassador Reception
6:30–7:30 p.m. Free guided Twilight Tour.

Great Circle Earthworks; The Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks

Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks Sites

The Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks was inscribed as Ohio’s first and only UNESCO World Heritage Site on September 19, 2023.

World Heritage inscription brings recognition to places of exceptional interest and value. These sites serve to honor and preserve the world’s cultural and natural heritage.

There are only about 1,000 World Heritage Sites around the globe, and the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks are just the 25th World Heritage Listing in the U.S.

Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks is the collective name for eight works of monumental landscape architecture built by Native Americans between 1,600 and 2,000 years ago in central and southern Ohio.

Five of the earthworks sites are managed by the National Park Service, and three are managed by the Ohio History Connection.

Hopewell Culture National Historical Park; The Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks

Fort Ancient Earthworks & Nature Preserve
6123 State Route 350 in Oregonia

Hopewell Culture National Historical Park
16062 State Route 104 in Chillicothe

The Newark Earthworks: Great Circle Earthworks and Octagon Earthworks
Great Circle Earthworks, 455 Hebron Road in Heath, and the Octagon Earthworks, 125 N. 33rd St. in Newark

Great Circle Earthworks; The Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks

About Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks

Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks is the collective name for eight monumental sites built by Native Americans between 1,600 and 2,000 years ago in what is now the state of Ohio.

Five of the earthworks sites are managed by the National Park Service; three are managed by the Ohio History Connection.

The Earthworks were nominated to the UNESCO World Heritage List in January 2022 by the U.S. Department of the Interior and were inscribed by the 21 countries on the World Heritage Committee on Sept. 19 during a meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

For more information, go to hopewellearthworks.org.