COLUMBUS, Ohio — Before Westerners settled what is today Columbus and central Ohio, the area was home to a number of mound-building societies, including the Adena Culture.
The most visible link to the Adena Culture is the burial mounds around Ohio. While many of the culture’s mounds have been lost to development, Columbus’ Shrum Mound — likely built between 800 BC and 100 AD — stands as a direct link to the past.
At approximately 100 feet in diameter and 20 feet tall, Shrum Mound is said to be “one of the last remaining conical burial mounds” in Columbus. The grass-covered mound features a path leading to the top.
Shrum Mound is located in Campbell Park — named for former Ohio Gov. James E. Campbell who later served as president of the Ohio Archaeological and Historical Society — about five miles northwest of downtown Columbus.
The mound derives its name from the Shrum family, which in 1928 donated the land where the mound sits to the Ohio Historical Society.