An Ohio historical society is locked in a legal battle with a rural golf club over prehistoric Native American mounds culturally “equivalent to Stonehenge.”
Ohio History Connection (OHC) wants to reopen the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Octagon Earthworks to the public, but the site is leased to Moundbuilders Country Club, which has managed a golf course on the prehistoric mounds for 114 years.
The two groups cannot agree on a fair price to end the lease as the club says that “the OHC does not have or does not want to spend enough money to allow the club to move to another location”, leading to a long ongoing court battle. .
The 50-acre group of sacred mounds was built between AD 1 and 400 as “part cathedral, part cemetery, and part astronomical observatory” and has “historical and archaeological importance equivalent to Machu Picchu.”
John Low, a citizen of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, told DailyMail.com: “It would be like having a mini golf course inside Stonehenge, it just doesn’t work.”
But the beloved community club told DailyMail.com they have provided “care and protection” to the mounds and without sufficient payment they will be forced to close.
The complex 50-acre group of mounds was built between AD 1 and 400 as “part cathedral, part cemetery, and part astronomical observatory.”
Ohio History Connection (OHC) wants to reopen the prehistoric Octagon Earthworks to the public, but the site is leased to the Moundbuilders Country Club, which has a golf course on the prehistoric mounds.
The club, which serves as a social center for the community, built a golf course around the mounds in the early 20th century, attracting thousands of visitors over the decades to play these unusual holes.
Golfers love monuments and the biggest one is nicknamed “Big Boss.”
A 1930 article in Golf Illustrated said, “The ancient mound builders unknowingly left behind the scene of a golf course as strange and sporty as ever felt by the stroke of a niblick.”
But Native American representatives have long expressed their disapproval of the club, likening it to building a “country club on the Acropolis.”
The mounds were painstakingly constructed with rudimentary tools approximately 2,000 years ago, to mark and measure the passage of the sun and moon.
Low said: ‘For the people of the Ohio River Valley and Great Lakes region who are most connected as descendants of the builders, it is a place of pride that deserves protection.
‘It is a place declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO that we want to share with the world. “We can’t celebrate it with a golf course on top.”
The OHC told DailyMail.com that by ending the lease and regaining control of the site they want to “operate, protect, maintain, restore and share access to this indigenous wonder”.
Currently they say they only have full access to the mounds four or five days a year.
The club, which serves as a social center for the community, built a golf course around the mounds in the early 20th century.
The club’s board of directors chairman David Kratoville told DailyMail.com that they do not want to abandon the site.
The club, where membership starts at about $1,000 a year, has a Williamsburg-looking brick clubhouse, a pool and an 18-hole course.
In a 2022 legal document, the OHC stated that “the country club had increasingly denied access to the public over the past 15 to 20 years, either directly or indirectly by making access impossible through maintenance activities at inconvenient hours.” .
But the club denies this, saying they have maintained and protected the mounds for 114 years, and if they are forced to leave the land without adequate compensation they will be forced to close.
The club’s board chairman, David Kratoville, told DailyMail.com that they do not want to leave the site but would “seek to do so by receiving a payment that would allow them to recreate their business elsewhere.”
The club, whose membership starts at about $1,000 a year, has a Williamsburg-looking brick clubhouse, a swimming pool and an 18-hole course.
The club is “woven into the local economy,” Kratoville said, and its closure “would be felt in a variety of employment, social, economic and community ways.”
He said: ‘The club is home to some local secondary school golf teams. The summer swim club is open to non-member children of all ages.
“It’s the only family social club within a 20-mile radius.”
John Low, a citizen of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, told DailyMail.com: “It would be like having a mini golf course inside Stonehenge, it just doesn’t work.”
The ongoing court battle and upcoming jury trial will determine the value of the lease.
Five years ago, Moundbuilders asked for $12 million for the facility, saying it would need it to pay off its debt and create another golf club of the same value.
But after an independent evaluation at the time, OHC offered $800,000.
Now the ongoing court battle and upcoming jury trial will determine the value of the lease and the amount of the payment to the club.
OHC says it is committed to allowing “full public access to Octagon Earthworks while ensuring the country club receives fair market value for the lease.”
But Kratoville told Daily Mail.com: ‘An exact (single) dollar amount is not required as Moundbuilders does not know where it will move if it moves.
‘Each potential new location has different cost elements that need to be taken into account. “It’s not a one-size-fits-all situation.”
He added: “The amount paid will determine whether Moundbuilders can relocate or cease to exist after 114 years as a community institution.”