GPS Fail!

What ho, friends! Ben and I took a small trip down to Chillicothe a few Saturdays ago to visit the Hopewell Culture National Historic Park. It was pretty sweet. And it was only an hour away, and it was FREE! This is just one of the many places in Ohio (and throughout much of the midwest we found out!) where there are a series of mounds built by Native Americans.

It was kind of an adventure getting down there. We trusted our GPS, and it totally led us astray, taking us past this creepy house.

To give the GPS credit, the site it took us to was technically part of the National Park, just part of it that was not excavated, and that did not have any official tour, was closed to the public, was located in a very creepy area and was only marked by a small plaque.

The part of the park with the nice visitor center that was open to the public is actually located in the middle of three, yes THREE, state and federal prisons. (And they send school groups to this park all the time! Maybe it's a "scared straight" thing?) So, I'm not sure which one I found creepier. But, the mounds were really cool, and you could walk right up to them, just not on them.

One more interesting fact about the mounds: During WWI there was a big military training camp, called Camp Sherman, that was built right over the mounds! They built army barracks right on the mounds! Just disregarding them all together! This seems so ridiculous to me, because it seems like it would be hard to build a building on top of a big lump of earth rather than on the nice flat part right next to it, but hey, what do I know. I'm just a civilian. :)

Any way, that was our trip! It was cool, I highly suggest it. But be careful, and don't get lost in Chillicothe, because you'll either end up in a creepy area or a prison parking lot.