“Consider these brief points while contemplating Ross County Ohio (Chillicothe region) as a likely place for the Savior’s appearance: Article by Anthony George, Lifelong Chillicothe Resident & Archeological Researcher. Maps by Rian Nelson-Moroni’s America Map Edition- Land Bountiful
1) Principal location of Ross County Ohio – even in historic times, the geology, geography, and biotic zones have been recognized as significant and even desirable for habitation. Modern Chillicothe serves as regional commerce center and a crossroads of transportation. The Scioto River and large tributaries in Paint Creek and Deer Creek converge in one relatively concentrated region. The Shawnee revered the place. Ohio pioneers made Chillicothe the first capital of the newly formed state.
2) Geographical position – Chillicothe appears to be at the pinch-point of an hour glass shaped body of water that stretched 90 miles north and south and up to 8 miles wide at the widest east-west expanses. This water feature bisected southern Ohio. Evidence through dating and by legend suggests this body of water emptied 2000 years ago. Its geographical position and former favorable ‘short water crossing’ convenience decries its importance as a commercial, military, religious site. Incidentally, Mound City on the west side of the Scioto and Hopeton on the east side are directly across from one another.
3) Spectacular and sacred landscape – the beauty of the hills is noteworthy. I find it no coincidence that the founding fathers of Ohio chose a scene they witnessed in Chillicothe as the official Seal of Ohio to be emblematic of the people of Ohio and endorse all legal documentation. That scene is the Scioto valley backdropped by seven hills. Sugarloaf Mountain is to the north. Mount Logan is to the south. The rising eastern sun sends its first light over those hills in that seal. It is interesting to consider that the Savior himself returns to Ohio in a just a few years after the seal’s adoption. Symbolic?
4) Replication of Hills, alignment of earthworks – There seems to be a reverence for the hills among the Hopewell. Many mounds replicate hills on the horizon. For example in Mound City alone it is plainly obvious that Mound 7 replicates Sugarloaf Mountain and that Mound 3 echoes Mount Logan. When you factor the apparent alignments of literally dozens of earthworks to the heavens and each other, they all flow to Sugarloaf or in some cases to those seven hills earlier mentioned in The Great Seal. In fact if you stand on Mound 7 at Mound City you will see the parallel walls of Hopeton directly across the river, align to the summit of Sugarloaf. Also, review the Great Hopewell Road. The road has been suggested as a connector from Chillicothe to Newark. Even Dr. Lepper has not determined specifically a Chillicothe terminus. Let us change the perspective. Two parallel walls leave Newark and flow in the specific direction to Chillicothe. Follow the known course and you will see it flows directly…..straight as an arrow, directly to Sugarloaf. Everyone has been looking past Sugarloaf, but I suggest Sugarloaf is the terminus!!! The ‘road’ points right to it.
5) Largest concentration of Hopewell earthworks in the world – Ross County Ohio is indeed the largest concentration of earthworks, including the large, geometric earthworks constructed after AD 50. Over 500 earthworks within a 15 mile circle from Sugarloaf. What does this suggest?
6) Sugarloaf Mountain – “The Hopewell road from Newark points straight as an arrow to Sugarloaf Mountain, the hill directly behind the Cedar Bank site. It is also the hill which many Chillicothe earthworks align to. Additionally, the Marietta Road, another ancient thruway, points straight to Sugarloaf from Marietta. Then consider the Kanawha Trail from Charleston WV and the Scioto Trail from Portsmouth OH…yep, the same. It seems everything in southern Ohio points to Sugarloaf. And there is more. The largest concentration of Hopewell earthworks are within minutes of Sugarloaf (over 500). You can see Columbus OH from the top of the hill. It commands the valley more in presence as opposed to height.
I cannot overstate the significance of the hillscape in Chillicothe! The Creation and Creator can be read like a book. Consider how many times we read of the symbolic ‘get thee to the mountain’ in many accounts in the scriptures.
And then there is the irony of Ohio’s founding fathers choosing the same hills for inclusion of the state’s official seal with the sun rising and dawning from the EAST, rising over a land that we know the Savior himself appeared in our time…in fact just a few years later.
You can not make this stuff up any better. I absolutely skip through life fearless of death because of my testimony of the things I have witnessed living a lifetime in this land. These were the people. Ohio was the place. But Sugarloaf is special. As I have climbed to the summit of Sugarloaf I have realized a spirit equal to that in the temple. My wife agrees of its uniqueness. It was clear to her the area of compaction at the summit. I hiked with my oldest son and he experienced strongly the feelings associated with the place. He described at as a place where one should remove his shoes.
Come to Ohio and I will guide you to the top of Sugarloaf. We will sit down on a fallen tree near an area of ancient compaction. We will look down on the Cedar Bank site and dozens of others immediately below us. And then I will ask you, “What do you feel?
Like Wayne May says, “There’s more.“ Assemble yourselves at the Ohio and see “I have kept in store a blessing such as is not known among the children of men, and it shall be poured forth upon their heads. And from thence men shall go forth into all nations.”
It is a dawning of yet another season.”
7) Proximity of likely temple site – the Cedar Bank site is a great candidate for a temple site. It is situated on the east bank of the Scioto and below Sugarloaf Mountain. Incidentally, Sugarloaf has a very, majestic shape. Even Squire and Davis suggest Cedar Bank as a place of “religious observances”. And then there is the name ‘Cedar Bank. It is understood that the site was named from the inordinate number of cedar trees growing on a bank among one of the thickest hardwood forests in the world. Propagated from an ancient introduction of cedars? Additionally, the earthwork appears to have had a graded way to the water feature. It also resembles very, very closely the constructions found in Marietta, OH, Cincinnati, OH, Havana, IL and what we know as the Zarahemla site across from Nauvoo. Keep in mind that upon the Savior’s coming the people would be practicing the law of Moses. Although the Newark works are wonderful at offering symbolism of the Plan of Salvation through its geometric, earthen constructions, so do likewise other geometric construction’s in Ohio and opposite Portsmouth in Kentucky. These constructions were likely built or ‘added upon’ (from earlier constructions) after the Savior’s coming and teachings.
I suggest that the Hopewell people were aware of the stories in the Book of Mormon. Whereas none of my given points can declare with absolution, they, in my opinion are within reason. It only seems logical to study the focus of the culture after the time that Christ would have offered his teachings. What does it point to?
From my extensive travels and exploration in this region, from my listening to the stories of the ‘Old Ones’, from lifetime observations of phenomena in the region, from all that I feel, I do believe that the Chillicothe region is a place of sacred significance. If you brush aside our modern ways and adopt the eyes and ears and heart of the creatures and rocks of this land you can sense a testimony of this place. Every hill tells a story.
I believe that the people were “round about the temple…..and they were marveling and wondering one with another” as they were in the midst of the hills I have spoken. I believe Sugarloaf Mountain was a backdrop or location during the Savior’s visit. I believe that Apostles were called and teachings offered and new temples unlike those of old were erected. Magnificent constructions replete with symbolic attributes of the Plan of Salvation were constructed during a great period of peace and understanding. And to pay homage to their Master they remembered the place and spirit of his teaching by aligning their eyes to the hillscape and their hearts to the heavens. The Savior lives” Anthony George, Lifelong Chillicothe Resident & Archeological Researcher.
If you are in Ohio “Tony” and wife Lorraine would love to show you around. Please email them at [email protected] or call Rian to get their phone number.
