PORTSMOUTH- The Arc of Appalachia is partnering with the Southern Ohio Museum and Cultural Center (SOMACC) this month to update the community on the progress of the Tremper Mound Nature Preserve, provide a tour of SOMACC’s Art of the Ancient’s permanent exhibition, and, finally, a caravan to Tremper Mound for a tour.

Land Manager, Elijah Crabtree will present the “Tremper Mound Community Update.” The lecture will be hosted in the museum’s Hopkins Theatre and admission is free.

According to the museum, “Tremper Mound is one of the most important Hopewell Culture sites in the country. Over the last few years, the Arc of Appalachia archaeological conservancy has raised money to purchase Tremper Mound and the surrounding land to create the Tremper Mound Nature Preserve.”

Hundreds of acres of land surrounding the Tremper Earthworks and Village make up the preserve, including old growth forests and meadows, as well as a portion of Pond Creek and the Scioto River bottomland. This pristine environment allows visitors to experience the 2,000-year-old sacred landscape of the Hopewell Culture.

“The Arc of Appalachia’s presence and involvement in Scioto County goes back over a decade with the Gladys Riley Golden Star Lily Preserve in Otway,” Crabtree said. “Since then, Arc has managed to preserve more than 2,000 acres of ecologically and historically significant land within the borders of Scioto County. This includes the ARC’s most ambitious preservation efforts ever taken in order to preserve one of the most important Hopewell sites remaining today, Tremper Mound, just four miles outside of Portsmouth.”

The Arc of Appalachia plans to open the Tremper Mound Nature Preserve to the public later this year.

“It is incredibly, incredibly exciting. This is an incredibly important Hopewell site. It is one of the earliest Hopewell sites that we know of in Ohio. In is famous for the numerous smoke effigy pipes that were uncovered there in the 1915 excavation. It is just an incredibly important site and one of the largest projects we’ve taken on at the Arc of Appalachia. It’s very exciting.”

Reach Joseph Pratt at (740) 353-3101, by email at [email protected], © 2022 Portsmouth Daily Times, all rights reserved.