GRANVILLE, COLUMBUS
"HIGH BANKS METRO PARK"
A small cemetery along the Overlook Trail in High Banks Metro Park preserves exquisitely carved headstones.
In the High Banks Metro Park just north of the city (entrance on North High Street (US 23), 2˝ miles north of Interstate 270), two mounds associated with the Adena culture and a semi-circular earthen enclosure lie atop a 100 foot cliff overlooking the Olentangy River. The enclosure, also called the Orange Township Works, can be reached by trails from the Nature Center (with interpretive exhibits) at the park.
The “High Banks” name comes not from the ancient Indian earthwork, but from the 110-foot, exposed shale precipice rising above the Olentangy River. The cliff and the earthwork are reached by the 2.3-mile Overlook Trail through dense woods, across steep ravines, and past a preserved cemetery plot.
The trail passes through the ancient earthwork, together with its watery outer ditch (where salamanders breed). It was designed to encircle the promontory, and a long extension of the wall is visible to the north and west. It diminishes on both sides, along the steep-sided ravines. This 1500-foot earthwork probably marked a village boundary, between 8 and 14 centuries ago.
Near the spot where the trail passes through them, the earthen wall and ditch are especially prominent.
