Guest columnist: Compromise should've been possible with country club over earthworks

Well, it seems self-evident that we are approaching the end of an era as Moundbuilders Country Club will soon be replaced by a public park.

As a 25-year member and lifelong Licking County resident, we are losing a 100-year-old institution that hosted high school and youth golf as well as charity outings for the hospital, chamber of commerce, suicide prevention, breast cancer and others. Bridal and engagement receptions, Rotary and service club meetings, and celebrations of life have been held at Moundbuilders Country Club. This unique club and golf course are irreplaceable for our community.

If you are not a golfer, you may not be aware of Thomas Bendelow, who designed our course. Born in Scotland, he became the most prolific golf course designer in the early 1900s, producing more than 600 courses in bringing thisnew sport to the U.S. Later employed by AG Spalding, he used the natural topography and promoted this former elite sport to the common man.

I congratulate the Ohio History Connection (OHC) for pursuing and obtaining the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural (UNESCO) World Heritage site designation for the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks, which includes the earthworks in Newark and Heath.

The OHC had told us this was not possible until they took control of our site, which proved unnecessary, as they obtained the designation anyway. They set a precedent by breaking a lease contract by using eminent domain. Inthe initial trial, Licking County Common Pleas Judge David W. Branstool stated this was for the people and did not carefor our testimony of crime and neglect at the Great Circle Mound. Who will benefit by having an additional park site? Will the OHC use this method to obtain other sites or mounds for the public good? How will they maintain the grounds and prevent crime and homeless camps down by the river? There are many questions for which the Ohio History Connection (OHC) does not currently have any answers.

Recently I attended one of the OHC open house days and did the remnants tour led by Jeff Gill. We explored the adjoining neighborhood, where he explained the rise of the land and what indicated where former mounds mayhave occurred across the street from the octagon. If the Newark community leaders had not maintained our site, it would have been houses as the neighborhood around it. First as a military camp and the circle mound as afairgrounds, these were the only group of mounds saved from the progress of a growing city.

I question in the negotiations why we couldn’t arrive at a compromise. OHC could have full access from October to April and a couple days a month through the summer. Build an interpretive center on the grounds with restrooms and have their tours from there. The golf course would still maintain the grounds, which are pristine, and save them money from mowing and maintence. My contention is that without a full time caretaker/manager, all that acreage will become weed infested and overgrown.

A couple closing facts: There are no burials in the mounds, they were mostly rebuilt and not original; the moon alignments are only a theory; they were built by prehistoric people who have no written records; and the Native Americans that were in our area had no idea what they were for and who built them when the first white settlers came to Licking County.

So long to taxes, employment, and 100 years of Moundbuilders Country Club. May you rest in peace.

Michael Myers, Hebron

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Guest columnist: Compromise should've been possible with country club over earthworks