The Shrum Mound in Campbell Park (5 miles northwest of downtown Columbus, about ½ mile south of the intersection of McKinley Avenue and Trabue Road) is a well-preserved, 20-foot tall, conical mound.

It is one of the last ancient mounds left in the Columbus area, named after the family that donated it to the Ohio Historical Society. Its conical form and isolated position suggest an Adena era burial mound, although there have been no archaeological investigations.

This tranquil park, named for former Ohio governor James E. Campbell, is surrounded by a gigantic old limestone quarry on one side, and rushing road traffic on the other, suggesting how close the mound came to being destroyed. Yet it remains, in this improbable spot, a direct link to the distant past. Climbing the steep path to the 20-foot summit, you can feel, as one visitor wrote, that “it’s still a haunting place.”

The Shrum Mound sits in the center of a tiny park, rimmed with a low, symmetrical, stone wall, at the edge of an immense quarry.

Granville, Columbus

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