Life All Over
The Milford Earthworks
Cathy Gatch

You don°t have to live here very long to notice that the confluence of the the Little Miami and the East Fork River is a very beautiful and fertile area. It has terraced plains which allow farming at several levels at and above flood stage. Mature woods with enormous trees. To get a tree that°s more than 300 years old takes a very stable environment. Milford has never had to introduce water rationing even in the most severe droughts due to the enormous aquifer here. At one time Clermont County was the largest fruit producer in the country.

It must have been especially economically and strategically valuable about 2 millennia ago. That is when the ¿Hopewell Cultureî thrived - the Mound Builders. They were an ancient culture (circa 100 BC to 500 AD) - gone long before Europeans ever set foot on this continent. All that was left of them were fascinating networks of mounded earth.

There were several huge earthworks on both sides of the Little Miami River in Terrace Park, Madeira and especially Milford. Further up the East Fork towards the Fayetteville area, there was a partially elaborate structure whose structure has been compared to a Hanukkiah menorah. These have now been largely obliterated by years of farming and building. No one really knows whether these were protective fortifications, or had religious/spiritual significance, or some mix of both. Nor does anyone know exactly where they were in relation to the current topography.

Luckily they captured the imagination of General William Lyle of Cincinnati at the turn of the century 200 years ago. His published survey sparked the interest of Thomas Jefferson, who as President had the power to send the Army Corps of Engineers to make a really detailed study.

The man charged with completing this study was Major Isaac Roberdeau. At that time, Roberdeau was the head of the Bureau of Topographical Engineers of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. He was an experienced surveyor, having assisted in laying out the city of Washington in 1791, and following the war of 1812, had been in charge of surveying 900 miles (and establishing) the U.S.-Canadian border. In 1818 he attained his position in the Corps.

The map that he surveyed of what was still left of these earthworks is dated 1823 and represents the state-of-the-art of that time period. It is on record at the National Archives. He described the mounds as being ancient fortifications with walls 5 to 10 feet high and upwards of 30 feet across.

The mound system he mapped in Milford consisted of a long narrow earthwork along the edge of the Little Miami River probably radiating off of Wallace hill. This faces the part of the river that is shallow enough to walk over (except during times of flooding) with a circle on top of that high hill connecting to a circle on top of that hill. Apparentlyy this is where Mound Street get's its name. If you drive over Wallace Avenue from Garfield Avenue to 5 Corners you can see the 28 and I 275 interchange easily. It'ss a great vantage point to view the surrounding area.

Connected to this same hill are two much larger open areas - a square intersecting with a larger rounded area. These probably included most of the area of the Milford Shopping Center and the Greenlawn Cemetery. The square part had openings that may have contained gates allowing passage through this protected area. This is may be where the current Route 50 is (which was the old Chilicothe-Milford Turnpike). There is every indication that this route has been used for centuries. If these mounds are a clue and the Hopewells used it, this route could have been used for almost two millennia.

It's a fascinating exercise to figure out where the old settlements were and what effect the topography would have had in the placement of these earthworks. Floods and drought were as common 2,000 years ago as they are today. Looking at what evolved during a 700 year period offer important clues to the best way to plan today.

When you consider that the Milford site may have been part of an ancient trade route, that it could have offered protection as well as agricultural products and an ensured water supply, you can see that the Milford area had much to offer. Was the Milford Earthworks a protected area along an ancient trade route? Was it a military fortress or protection from wild life? Just how populated was this area 2,000 years ago? It certainly had great riches of fertile land and water as it does today.

Reference: J. Houston McCulloch in Ancient American issue #14
July/August 1996.

Cathy Gatch runs The Milford Pottery and is a resident of Milford. Cathy is a regular contributor to milford-miami.com.

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