East from Hillsboro toward Chillicothe, US-50 winds past whitewashed farmhouses and broad cornfields flanked by low hills. The region also holds two fascinating remnants of the “mound builder” people who once lived here. Just west of the sleepy village of Bainbridge, heading 20 miles south onto Hwy-41 (or following Hwy-73 south from Hillsboro) brings you to the Serpent Mound (in summer Wed.–Sun. 9 am–5 pm, weekends only rest of year; $7 per car; 937/587-2796), which stretches in seven sinuous curves alongside a creek for nearly a quarter mile. There’s a small museum on the site, and to see the snake-shaped earthworks—the largest and finest effigy mound in the country—visitors climb up a turn-of-the-20th-century vintage lookout tower.
Another of these prehistoric sites, the Seip Mound, two miles east of Bainbridge and 14 miles west of Chillicothe, is over 200 feet long and 30 feet tall, surrounded by 10 acres of pasture. To prevent early farmers from plowing them into oblivion in the 1880s, many of these evocative monuments were purchased and preserved through the efforts of Harvard University archaeologists. Harvard owned the land for many years, and later donated the sites to the state of Ohio. Recent state budget problems have made these sights subject to closure, so phone ahead (800/283-8905) if you can.
For more on the enigmatic creators of these burial mounds, see “The Mound Builders.”
