A NEW DAY FOR THE ANCESTORS' MOUNDS

In fall 2007, Glenna Wallace, chief of the Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma, visited the Octagon Earthworks in the central Ohio city of Newark while attending a lecture series at the Ohio State University in nearby Columbus. 

- ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS

Wallace is a seasoned world traveler, but she was nevertheless astounded by the Native American mounds, which were built 2,000 years ago by her people's ancestors. The eight walls of the Octagon Earthworks' namesake structure each measure five to six feet high and about 570 feet long. The Octagon Earthworks are part of the Newark Earthworks, the largest known set of earthworks that include circular, square, and octagonal enclosures. The mounds' positions correspond to lunar movements, and the structures align with points at which the moon rises and sets over the course of the 18.6-year lunar cycle.

Tempering Wallace's elation that day was the reception she received as she proceeded across the golf course where the mounds are situated. Irate golfers made it clear that she wasn't welcome on the grounds, which, under a decades-old arrangement with the state, were open only on rare occasions to visitors interested in the earthworks. "I was just totally astounded, amazed, disappointed, hurt, all within five minutes," Wallace says.