The following statements are abstracted from the park's General Management Plan, approved in 1997. For full text, please contact the park at 740-774-1126 or by e-mail.

Park Purpose

Preserve, protect, and interpret the remnants of a group of once extensive archeological resources that might be lost if not protected, including mounds and earthworks, artifacts, the archeological context, the cultural landscape, and ethnographic information.

Promote cultural resource stewardship and understanding of the importance of the resources to present and future generations.

Park Significance

It is the only federal area that preserves, protects, and interprets remnants of the Hopewell culture.

The park and related sites represent some of the most elaborate of the Hopewell culture, as well as the biggest and densest concentrations of Hopewellian earthworks in the country.

Park units were among the first places in North America where the practice of scientific archeology was used and described in scientific publications.

The park contains the type-site for the culture; that is, the site where the Hopewell culture was first defined by archeologists.

Park Mission

The park educates the public about the daily lives, contributions, perceived values, and interactions of the Hopewell peoples with other peoples and the environment around them.

The significant sites in the park and related sites are protected and preserved by various means, and the local community feels a sense of stewardship for these and other sites.

The visitor leaves the park and related sites with a greater knowledge about the Hopewell culture, an understanding of the relationships between the sites, an admiration of the Hopewell accomplishments, and a cognizance of the need to preserve them.