Ohio golf course on 2,000-year-old ancient burial grounds will be closed, per legal settlement

After more than a decade, the ongoing legal battle over the Newark Earthworks’ Octagon Mounds has ended.

Moundbuilders Country Club and Ohio History Connection reached a settlement to buy out Moundbuilders’ lease on the Newark Earthworks’ Octagon Mounds — clearing the way for full public access to the property — the Ohio History Connection announced Thursday.

The settlement sum is confidential per the terms of the agreement, according representatives for both entities.

As a result of the case settling, the Octagon Earthworks will fully open to the public Jan. 1. after being leased by the country club since 1910. Moundbuilders intends to operate the private country club at 125 N. 33rd St., Newark, as usual until Dec. 31, Moundbuilders attorney Joe Fraley said.

“The New Year will bring a new era to the Octagon Earthworks and the Ohio History Connection,” Ohio History Connection Board President Charles Moses said in a news release. “We are excited the Octagon, which is one of the eight locations in the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks, Ohio’s first and only UNESCO World Heritage Site, will be fully open to the citizens of Ohio — and the world.”

The golf course property includes earthworks built 2,000 years ago by ancient American Indian peoples which are part of a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization World Heritage site that includes multiple earthworks in central and southern Ohio. The Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks earned World Heritage status in September.

The Ohio History Connection, formerly the Ohio Historical Society, was deeded the Great Circle and Octagon Earthworks in 1933 and extended the country club’s in 1997 to 2078. Moundbuilders and the Ohio History Connection began negotiating in January 2013 to provide full public access to the site. In November 2018, the Ohio History Connection sued the country club, intending to buy back the lease on the property. The Ohio Supreme Court ruled in December 2022 that the Ohio History Connection could take the property back by eminent domain.

A jury trial in Licking County Common Pleas Court to determine the fair market value of the lease was scheduled for October, but it was delayed by an appeal of pretrial rulings made by Judge David Branstool and delayed again in May and July because of negotiations related to the settlement, according to the Ohio History Connection.

The settlement finally brings the legal battle to a close.

“I think the intention of both parties is that all litigation will cease,” Fraley said.

Moundbuilders reached an agreement with The Trout Club to purchase the north Newark property by the end of the year, giving Moundbuilders a place to continue its golf tradition in Newark, which The Advocate reported last week.

Fraley said Moundbuilders and The Trout Club are continuing to work out the details of the purchase.

Fraley said the country club was clear throughout the legal process that “there could never be a settlement if the club couldn’t survive.”

While the settlement and The Trout Club purchase are not directly related, they are connected, Fraley said.

“There certainly was a relationship because we had to survive; and in order to survive, we had to find a home. And in this particular case, the two seem to be compatible.”

Ohio History Connection finalizing public access details for Newark’s Octagon Earthworks

Now that the court case has wrapped up, the Ohio History Connection can move forward with planning full public access to the Octagon Earthworks, Ohio History Connection spokesperson Neil Thompson said.

He said it will be similar to the Great Circle Earthworks, meaning there will be posted hours and scheduled time with staff members for tours and programs. The private nonprofit will spend the next five months finalizing the details before the 134-acre site opens to the public.

“We look forward to partnering with the community to bring vibrant and meaningful visitor experiences to this remarkable place, and we plan to provide more details after we officially take possession of the leasehold for the property,” Ohio History Connection Executive Director and CEO Megan Wood said in a news release.

Planning is also underway specifically for Jan. 1 and how the Ohio History Connection wants to welcome not just Newark and Ohio residents but people from across the world to view this monumental, Native American landscape architecture that can not be found anywhere else in the world, Thompson said.

“We just are so happy that people are going to be able to see in person 365 days a year,” he said.

mdevito@gannett.com