Description: This photograph shows the scaffolding where people can climb to view the Serpent Mound in Adams County, Ohio. The serpent mound stretches a quarter of a mile and is the largest serpent effigy know today. The bottom of the mound is clay and rock and the soil covering the rock is four to five feet high. The mound was built on a unique cryptoexplosive structure, causing it to become misshapen over the years. Serpent Mound is located east of Cincinnati, Ohio. It is on top of a ridge that overlooks Ohio Brush Creek. It is a part of Serpent Mound State Park and accessible to the public. It is believed that the area around the mound was inhabited from 3000 BP to 1300 BP. Although the functions of the Serpent Mound is a mystery, it is probably a religious symbol. The serpent has been a symbol of many things, among them, eternity, incarnation of a deity and evil. Excavations of the mound have found pottery fragments, ashes, burnt stone and some animal bones. There is evidence the Adena Indians occupied the area. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B10F09_012_001
Subjects: Adams County (Ohio); Serpent Mound State Memorial (Ohio); Fort Ancient Culture (A.D. 1000–1650)
Places: Adams County (Ohio)
 

Description: Elevated view of Serpent Mound in Adams County, Ohio, ca. 1930-1960. It is the largest serpent effigy mound in the United States. The Ohio Historical Society has managed the site since 1900. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL02725
Subjects: Mounds--Ohio--Adams County; Ohio History--Natural and Native Ohio
Places: Adams County (Ohio)
 

Description: A postcard from the Adams County Mineral Springs. This postcard shows people riding in a wagon. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL06864
Subjects: Adams County (Ohio); Minerals;
Places: Peebles (Ohio); Adams County (Ohio)
 

Description: Aerial view of Serpent Mound, Adams County, Ohio. It is the largest serpent effigy mound in the United States. The Ohio Historical Society has managed the site since 1900. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL02747
Subjects: Adams County (Ohio); Other--Ohio Historical Society; Mounds--Ohio--Adams County; Great Serpent Mound (Ohio)
Places: Adams County (Ohio)
 

Description: This is the photograph of the monument marking the grave of Thomas Kirker (1760-1837), the second governor of Ohio. The gray stone monument has a carved inscription. Born in County Tyrone, Ireland, he immigrated with his family to this country when he was about 18. After living in Pennsylvania and Kentucky, he moved with his wife, Sarah, to Ohio in 1793 and eventually settled in Liberty Township in Adams County. Kirker became an influential figure in the Northwest Territory. Governor Arthur St. Clair appointed him to be a justice of the peace in 1797. Over the next several years, Kirker, a member of the Democratic-Republican Party, actively campaigned for Ohio statehood, to the consternation of St. Clair, a Federalist Party member. Kirker represented Adams County at Ohio's first Constitutional Convention in 1802 and also as a member of the General Assembly (1803-1815, 1816-1817, and 1821-1825). He was speaker of the Ohio Senate for seven terms between 1804 and 1815 and as Speaker of the Ohio House from 1816 to 1817. In 1807, he became governor of Ohio after Governor Edward Tiffin resigned to take a seat in the U.S. Senate. Kirker was defeated in the next election, but the winner, Return J. Meigs, was disqualified because he had not lived in Ohio the required numbers of years to become governor. Instead, Kirker remained as acting governor for the duration of the 1807-1808 term. As governor, Kirker dealt with Ohio citizens' concerns about American Indian threats in western Ohio. He sent Thomas Worthington and Duncan McArthur to Fort Greene Ville in late 1807 to investigate, but the two men found no evidence to support the settlers' concerns. Because of Worthington's and McArthur's report, military conflict with the American Indians did not materialize during Kirker's administration. In 1808, Kirker ran against fellow Democratic-Republicans Thomas Worthington and Samuel Huntington for the governorship. Both Kirker and Worthington held similar political beliefs, arguing that the state legislature was supreme in creating law, while Huntington believed that ultimate authority to determine constitutionality of law rested with the Ohio Supreme Court. Kirker and Worthington split the vote among those sharing their view, allowing Huntington to gain the majority and become the state's next governor. Kirker returned to the state legislature, where he continued to represent Adams County until he retired from public service. He died on his Adams County farm in 1837. He was buried in the Kirker Cemetery, sometimes known as the Kirker Family Cemetery, in Adams County. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL06960
Subjects: Adams County (Ohio); Legislators; Politicians; Governors--Ohio; Tombstones (sepulchral monuments);
Places: West Union (Ohio); Adams County (Ohio)
 

Description: This color image shows a stone marker denoting Zane's Trace, a travel route, and Treber Inn, which provided lodging for travelers during the early 19th century. The marker, made of pinkish stone, reads: "Zane Trace, Ohio's first highway and mail route authorized by Congress in 1796 / Marked and cleared in 1797 by Col. Ebenezer Zane / A blazed trail, it became the route of the old stage line from Maysville to Wheeling used by noted statesmen to and from the Southwest and Washington. "Tremor Inn, Erected in 1797. Became "traveler's rest" in 1798 / Here, for over sixty years, distinguished guests and weary foot travelers found entertainment / Nearby, in 1793, Asahel Edgington was slain by Indians / the first white man killed in Adams County. "Erected by Adams County Historical Society 1933." Zane's Trace was an early road in the Northwest Territory that connected Wheeling, Virginia, to Limestone, Kentucky (present-day Maysville). It was a major road in early Ohio until well after the War of 1812. In 1796, Ebenezer Zane petitioned Congress for permission to build a road through the region, with the stipulation that the American government would grant him land where the road crossed the Muskingum, Hocking, and Scioto Rivers. The government agreed to his terms and required the road to be open by January 1, 1797. It was widely believed that a road would encourage increased trade and settlement in Ohio. Zane's Trace was more a trail than a road. Zane used existing Native American trails wherever possible and cut down trees to create a primitive path. Tomepomehala, an Indian guide, helped Zane plot the road. Prior to Ohio's statehood, Zane's Trace was not accessible by wagon. It was so narrow and rough that it was only passable on foot or on horseback. Zane built ferries at each of the river crossings and profited from the travel over the road. A small town began to develop where the ferry was located at the mouth of the Licking River. It came to be known as Zanesville. After Ohio became a state in 1803, the state legislature set aside money to improve the road. The goal was to make Zane's Trace accessible to wagons. By 1804, trees had been cut down to make the road twenty feet wide. Logs were laid across marshy areas to create corduroy roads, and several bridges were built. It was now possible to travel by wagon from Wheeling to Chillicothe, although many tree stumps were still standing in the middle of the road. People who traveled the road began to refer to it by a number of different names, including the Wheeling Road, the Wheeling-Limestone Road, or just the Limestone Road, rather than Zane's Trace. Zane's Trace encouraged significant economic and population growth in the Northwest Territory and the young state of Ohio. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL06963
Subjects: Historical marker; Zane's Trace (Ohio); Zane, Ebenezer, 1747-1812; Transportation--Ohio--History; Northwest Territory; Adams County (Ohio); Muskingum County (Ohio)
Places: New Concord (Ohio); Muskingum County (Ohio); Adams County (Ohio)
 

Description: This color photograph is a close-up of the cornerstone of the historic First Presbyterian Church in West Union, Ohio, ca. 1965-1970. The text reads: “First Presbyterian Church / organized 1800 / erected 1810.” Possibly made of granite, the cornerstone contrasts sharply with the warm-toned stone wall that encases it. The congregation was organized circa 1800 on Thomas Kirker's land on Eagle Creek, about three miles from West Union. Kirker, Ohio's second governor, was influential in organizing the congregation and raising funds for the building’s construction. Stonemason Thomas Metcalfe, Kentucky governor from 1828-1832, was awarded the contract to build the walls for $250; total construction cost was $500. Before the American Civil War, the First Presbyterian Church's ministers and congregation played an active role in the abolitionist movement, including assisting fugitive slaves. During the Civil War, the church also briefly served as a barracks for the Seventieth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, a regiment of recruits from Adams County and eastern Brown County. The church was added to National Register of Historic Places in 1976. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL06961
Subjects: Church buildings--Ohio; Historic buildings--Ohio; Cornerstones; National Register of Historic Places; West Union (Ohio); Adams County (Ohio)
Places: West Union (Ohio); Adams County (Ohio)
 

Description: Panoramic photograph showing five individuals standing at Serpent Mound, a monumental effigy mound in northern Adams County, Ohio. This earthwork depicts a serpent uncoiling along a prominent ridgetop; from the tip of its nose to the end of its tail, the effigy is 1,348 feet long. When it was originally described in 1848, the body of the serpent was five feet high and 30 feet wide. Until recently, archaeologists assumed that Serpent Mound was built by the Adena culture (800 B.C. to 100 A.D.) since two Adena burial mounds are located nearby. Yet excavations conducted in 1991 recovered charcoal that returned radiocarbon dates suggesting that the Fort Ancient people built the mound between about 1025 A.D. and 1215 A.D. Many American Indians of the Eastern Woodlands believed the Great Serpent was a powerful spirit of the Underworld, and it is believed that Serpent Mound may be a representation of these beliefs. The head of Serpent Mound is aligned with the setting sun on the summer solstice and the coils may be aligned to the summer and winter solstice and equinox sunrises. These alignments support the idea that Serpent Mound had a ceremonial purpose for its creators. Frederic Putnam saved Serpent Mound from destruction. On his urging, funds were raised for Harvard University to purchase the site. Later, the ownership was transferred to the Ohio Historical Society (now the Ohio History Connection). Serpent Mound is now recognized as a National Historic Landmark. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: OVS7483
Subjects: Great Serpent Mound (Ohio); Earthworks (Archaeology); Mounds--Ohio--Adams County;
Places: Adams County (Ohio)
 

Description: Serpent Mound is a spectacular effigy earthwork of a serpent uncoiling along a prominent ridgetop in northern Adams County, Ohio. From the tip of its nose to the end of its tail, the effigy is 1,348 feet long. When it was originally described in 1848, the body of the serpent was five feet high and 30 feet wide. Excavations between 1887 and 1889 by Frederic Putnam, of Harvard University's Peabody Museum, revealed the structure of the earthwork, but Putnam did not find any artifacts that revealed the age or cultural affiliation of the mound. Until recently, archaeologists assumed that Serpent Mound was built by the Adena culture (800 B.C. to 100 A.D.) since two Adena burial mounds are located nearby. Yet Putnam also discovered traces of a village of the Fort Ancient culture (1000 A.D. to 1650 A.D.) near the Serpent. Excavations conducted in 1991 recovered charcoal that returned radiocarbon dates suggesting that the Fort Ancient people built the mound between about 1025 A.D. and 1215 A.D. Serpents are a common feature in the art of the Late Prehistoric Period (900 A.D. to 1650 A.D.). Many American Indians of the Eastern Woodlands believed the Great Serpent was a powerful spirit of the Underworld, and it is believed that Serpent Mound may be a representation of these beliefs. The head of Serpent Mound is aligned with the setting sun on the summer solstice and the coils may be aligned to the summer and winter solstice and equinox sunrises. These alignments support the idea that Serpent Mound had a ceremonial purpose for its creators. Frederic Putnam saved Serpent Mound from destruction. On his urging, funds were raised for Harvard University to purchase the site. Later, the ownership was transferred to the Ohio Historical Society. Serpent Mound is now recognized as a National Historic Landmark. Serpent Mound State Memorial is located 20 miles south of Bainbridge in Adams County. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SC804_SerpentMound_01
Subjects: Great Serpent Mound (Ohio); Earthworks (Art)--United States; American Indian history; Earthworks (Archaeology); Mounds--Ohio--Adams County; Adena Culture (800 B.C.–A.D. 100); Fort Ancient Culture (A.D. 1000–1650)
Places: Adams County (Ohio);
 

Description: Downtown Peebles, Ohio. Platted in 1881 by Isaiah Custer at the junction of Zane's Trace (1796-97) and the Cincinnati and Eastern Railway (1881). Incorporated 1886. Named after John G. Peebles, Portsmouth, Ohio, businessman. David Nixon constructed the first house in town, operated for many years as the Nixon Hotel. Annual chautauquas were conducted on grounds south of the railroad beginning in 1906 and continuing through 1917. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL06798
Subjects: Villages; Adams County (Ohio); Zane's Trace (Ohio); Historic buildings--Ohio
Places: Peebles (Ohio); Adams County (Ohio); Ohio
 

Description: A view of a building, which appears to be a church, and the water-tower in Seaman, Ohio. Seaman dates back to the second half of the 19th century and takes it's name from Franklin Seaman. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL06806
Subjects: Adams County (Ohio); Buildings; Waterworks
Places: Seaman (Ohio); Adams County (Ohio); Ohio
 

Description: Aerial photograph of Serpent Mound, taken by the Ohio Historical Society Division of State Memorials in 1940. Serpent Mound is a spectacular effigy earthwork of a serpent uncoiling along a prominent ridgetop in northern Adams County, Ohio. From the tip of its nose to the end of its tail, the effigy is 1,348 feet long. When it was originally described, in 1848, the body of the serpent was five feet high and 30 feet wide. Excavations conducted in 1991 recovered charcoal that returned radiocarbon dates suggesting that the Fort Ancient people built the mound between about 1025 A.D. and 1215 A.D. Serpents are a common feature in the art of the Late Prehistoric Period (900 A.D. to 1650 A.D.). Many American Indians of the Eastern Woodlands believed the Great Serpent was a powerful spirit of the Underworld. Serpent Mound may be a representation of these beliefs. The head of Serpent Mound is aligned to the setting sun on the summer solstice and the coils may be aligned to the summer and winter solstice and equinox sunrises. These alignments support the idea that Serpent Mound had a ceremonial purpose. Serpent Mound is recognized as a National Historic Landmark. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA6560AV_B06_F10_01
Subjects: Great Serpent Mound (Ohio); Earthworks (Archaeology); Fort Ancient Culture (A.D. 1000–1650); American Indian history and society; Mounds--Ohio--Adams County
Places: Adams County (Ohio)