History Day Trip to Moundsville’s Mysterious Mounds (Tues., 8/4/26)

Who Built These Mysterious Mounds?

The town goes by Moundsville for a good reason. There‘s a really big one overlooking the Ohio River in West Virginia, just south of Wheeling. Officially called the Grave Creek Mound, it’s 62 feet tall and 900 feet around, and it’s just one of thousands that were recognized by geologists and archeologists beginning around 1845. In fact the very first issue of the Smithsonian Magazine in 1848 featured a story about these mysterious mounds. Clearly, they weren’t built by native Americans. Or, at least, not any of the generations of natives early colonists first met. No, these mounds were built by a much earlier civilization. And for what purpose? Were they built for defensive purposes? Or to honor ancestors? Or did they align with some astrophysical occurrence? Whatever the reason, the mound in West Virginia was likely constructed from some 60,000 tons of dirt, all carried by human hands in small baskets and dumped in one place over the course of, well, many, many years. 

Since the 1840s, scientists of all stripes have not solved the “mystery of the mound builders,” but agree they may well have been built as early as 400 B.C. The Grave Creek Mound is the largest conical mound known today. (There are wider and more massive ones in Ohio; even one in the shape of a serpent). A large state museum at the site will tell you what scientists think they know—backed up with evidence in the form of dioramas, copper charms, clay pipes and other primitive artifacts dug from the mound—but it’s all still too mysterious to comprehend. (Abraham Lincoln believed the mounds were built to bury prehistoric giants). The museum is closed on Sundays and Mondays. Admission is free. Just take I-79 south to 1-70 west to US 250 south. Moundsville is less than 2 hours from Pittsburgh.

Share on Social Media