Brickmaking in Marietta: The Captain, The Doctor, and Miss Lillian

Brick streets and stately brick buildings are one of Marietta's defining characteristics. Brickmaking began in 1788 and continued almost without interruption until the 1930's. Native clay soil made the area a natural for brickmaking. The Ohio Company in 1788 authorized purchase of supplies, including bricks, for the block houses at the Campus Martius fortified stockade in Marietta. Bricks were used to build chimneys and beautiful homes as the new settlement grew. We'll explore the history of brickmaking in Marietta and some of the fascinating personalities involved. Brick streets will be discussed in a later blog post.

The first bricks were "burned" by The Captain, Captain William Dana in 1788. Dana was a Revolutionary War officer who served with the Minutemen at Lexington in 1775 and commanded an artillery company. He suffered a financial loss due to the devaluation of continental currency and eventually relocated to Marietta in May of 1788 with his two sons. He was given permission to build a cabin near what is now Putnam and Front Streets. Captain Dana's son-in-law Joseph Barker paints the picture in his Recollections of the First Settlement of Ohio: "As it was too late to plant, he & the boys cleared a small piece...and made a small Kiln of Bricks which were probably the first Kiln of Bricks burnt in Ohio." Barker used the bricks to build a chimney for Captain Dana in Belpre and later transported some of the same bricks to build his own home up the Muskingum River at Wiseman's Bottom in 1795. Major Ezra Lunt also made bricks in the same location in 1789 and 1790.

The Doctor was Nathan McIntosh was another adventuresome early leader with a connection to brickmaking. He was trained as a doctor in Boston and admitted to practice in 1786. In 1788 he decided to head west and set off for Marietta on horseback, only to fall ill with smallpox in Pennsylvania. He practiced medicine at Waterford, then Clarksburg, VA (now WV). The trip to Clarksburg was a challenge. The doctor travelled there with his wife and infant son, escorted by 15 militiamen. There were no roads or inns along the way, so they had to camp out at night. To keep the baby's crying from attracting Indians, it was dosed with paregoric and muffled with a handkerchief to suppress its cries.

Dr. McIntosh built a large practice there and also embarked on a business venture to build a bridge across the Monongahela River. Soon after completion, the bridge was swept away in a flood, resulting in a large financial loss. He returned to Marietta and continued practicing medicine. He was renowned for his caring manner and surgical skill. He was also held strong religious views which he expressed in lectures and writing. In 1806 he started a brickyard and building brick houses.

Dr. McIntosh's baby son - the one sheltered from the Indians - was named Enoch. He was born in 1793 and began working as a laborer in the brickyard at age nine and at age twelve began laying brick. Williams' History of Washington County, Ohio noted that "He thus early began a life of severe and unremitting toil, which occupied all his time until fortune rewarded his labors." and that "his capacity for work....was phenomenal." He built many beautiful brick homes in the area, including for Benjamin Putnam and Colonel John Mills in Marietta, Benjamin Dana, and Dr. John Baptiste Regnier. Regnier was one of the French immigrants who first settled at Gallipolis and later became a prominent doctor in Marietta.

Image of Enoch S. McIntosh copied from H. Z. Williams' History of Washington County, Ohio

Enoch McIntosh left the brick trade in 1813 and became a successful businessman in the Beverly-Waterford area, operating a store, mill, and founding The First National Bank of Beverly. He lived to age 96 and was characterized in Williams' History as a "man of strong vital and moral force.......strong, robust......(who) in all his years never tasted intoxicating liquor or tobacco in any form." Brickmaking was apparently a good foundation, so to speak, for a long and productive life.

Brickmakers in the mid-1800's are not well documented. But there was one infamous brick-related episode in the mid-1850's involving the Sacra Via Hopewell earthworks. Sacra Via (Latin for Sacred Way) is the graded pathway from Quadranaou platform mound to the Muskingum River. It was to be protected..."never to be disturbed or defaced, as common ground, not to be enclosed." But the dramatic boundary walls were destroyed due to a regrettable lapse in governance. A city council member, who was a brickmaker, talked the city council into selling the earthen walls to him for bricks. The bricks were used in the construction of the Unitarian Church. If those bricks could talk......

Political song writer John Greiner of Zanesville spoke to the Oddfellows Lodge in Marietta on May 12, 1869, and sang a song he composed for the occasion. I was surprised to find a verse which laments the desecration of Sacra Via:

Proudly thought the ancient builders

Of these Mounds and Way and Plain

Monuments of skill and labor

Should forever here remain.

Vain! - for hands so sacrilegious, 

Clay upheaved so long ago,

Make the bricks for Marietta,

On the river Ohio.

Brickmaking became a boom industry in the late 1800's. Brick possessed much more strength and durability than other construction materials available at the time - and was fireproof. Demand surged for brick construction for residential, institutional, public works, and industrial buildings. A single large building could require a "ton of bricks." Construction of the state mental hospital in Athens, Ohio, for example, required 12 million bricks. In 1893, about 44 brick plants in Ohio alone were making 290 Million bricks per year.

By 1900, there were several brick plants in Marietta, making that industry the area's largest employer. The Century Review Board of Trade Edition lists four brick companies:

• Thomas Cisler and Son located where the Frontier Shopping Center is today, just beyond the intersection of Seventh and Putnam Streets.
• Sterling Brick spread out along Montgomery Street between Seventh and Eighth Streets.
• Acme Brick in Norwood, along Acme Street near the rail line
• City Brick Co., at Montgomery and Sixth Streets 

The City Directories in the 1890's also listed brick makers Simon Zoller at Second and Montgomery Streets, L. W. Phillips at Eighth and Warren Streets, and James Cameron on Lord Street in Harmar. All except Zoller appear on the 1902 Atlas of the City of Marietta, Cram and Roe.

More is written about Cisler than the others. Thomas Cisler was a first generation immigrant from Germany; the family name of Zeissler was later Americanized to Cisler for convenience. He started the brick works in 1856, and it grew into the city's largest by 1900. The expansive yard was spread over 25 acres. 

Cisler Brick complex copied by author from Century Review of Marietta, Ohio, Marietta, Ohio, Marietta Board of Trade, 1900. The Cisler home is in the background.

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He built an iconic home in 1886, which remains today, on a knoll overlooking the former site of the brick plant. The home featured terraced grounds, intricate woodworking, and ten rooms. It was the first in the area to have indoor plumbing and gas lighting. Click here to read an early account about the home just after it was built.

Cisler Terrace home as it appears today, viewed at https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cisler_Terrace.jpg

Thomas Cisler was interviewed by the Marietta Times in 1890, just after he had installed a pressed brick machine. This machine compressed the bricks under 300 tons of pressure before they were placed for firing in the kiln. Clay for the bricks was taken from "College Hill" (site of the current middle school) which he had recently purchased from Marietta College.

The 1902 tornado destroyed most of the Cisler brickworks (and Acme Brick in Norwood), though it apparently rebuilt the operation. The company closed for good the 1930's, after having been re-opened to make bricks for the "new" Marietta High School. It was built on the hill which also supplied the bricks for its construction.

Thomas's son, Thomas Henry, also lived in the family home and had three children, one of whom was Miss Lillian E. Cisler. Miss Lillian was an eccentric spinster who lived in the home after her father's passing in 1950. She wore all-black clothing all the time as a sign of mourning for her late father, lived in spartan conditions (no car, no phone, utilities sometimes shut off) because of poor money management, was obsessive about continuing the traditions of her father - including an annual Bach music festival at the home, and became legendary for brazenly jumping into cars of people she knew while they were stopped in traffic and "asking" them to take her home. But she had a softer side, was intelligent and deeply religious. More about Miss Lillian in a future post.

Sterling Brick was incorporated in 1899, owned by Marietta investors. It claimed a capacity of 30,000 bricks per day. Directors included D. R. Rood, T. H. Sugden. C. W. Sugden, F. P. Morse, C. L. Flanders, and Wm Morse.

Sterling Brick, along with narrative from, copied by author from Century Review of Marietta, Ohio, Marietta, Ohio, Marietta Board of Trade, 1900

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Acme Brick was given the longest write-up of the brick plants in the 1900 Century Review Board of Trade Edition. It was not yet in full operation at the time, but claimed capital stock of $50,000 ($1.2 Million in today's dollars), the latest equipment, and "indefinite" supply of shale and clay from soil at the site, a daily capacity of 30,000 brick and 25,000 shale shingles for roof tiles, and "six, tunnel dry houses...which will make.....production a success in rainy weather as well as sunshine." The roof shingles were superlatively described as "the most economical and as well as ornamental roofing that has been bought to us in modern times. The ruins of Pompeii is said to have disclosed it as a revival of a lost art." It's not clear whether the roof tiles and bricks lived up to the hype.

Acme Brick: Symbols on the map show its location along Acme Street, which is not named on the Atlas map. Could it later have been named after Acme Brick or was Acme Brick named after the Street? 1902 Atlas map viewed at: 

http://www.historicmapworks.com/Map/US/63745/Plate+003/Marietta+-+Ohio+and+Williamstown+-+West+Virginia+1902/Ohio/
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L. W. Phillips operated a brick plant at Eighth and Warren Streets. His facility was not listed in the Board of Trade publication - maybe because he was not a member of the Board of Trade (predecessor organization to the Chamber of Commerce). But he did make the April 12, 1894 Marietta Register newspaper under the unflattering headline of "Geo. Phillips Imbibes too Freely and Raises Trouble Around His Father's House." 

George Phillips was the 23 year old son of brick operator Lyman Phillips. George got drunk and set fire to several buildings at the home and brickyard. His rampage continued into the family home where he tried to destroy more property; he was subdued by "a number of men." The Register reported solemnly that "George Phillips is not known as a vicious or ugly man when sober, and the above occurrence is due solely to an over indulgence in liquor. It is an unfortunate affair." It was an observation as true today as then.

Brickmaking declined from its peak in the early 1900s as better alternative construction materials – such as steel – became available. The brick plants were all closed by 1930. Jobs and businesses supported by brickmaking soon faded away. Few remnants remain, having been removed by successor owners. The last feature at the Cisler plant, a stack for one of the kilns, came down more than 50 years ago when the Frontier Center was built. But thousands of local bricks remain in dozens of area homes and buildings, testimony to the once thriving brick industry. If those bricks could talk, they’d have many more stories to tell about the people who made them and used them.

Sources: (most of these were viewed in websites or digital editions)

Atlas of the City of Marietta, Washington County, Ohio etc., Fred'k B. Roe, C. E., Supervisor, Chicago, IL, Geo. F. Cram & Co., 1902, viewed at historicmapworks.com.

Baker, David B., "Marietta Earthworks," earlymarietta blog, February 18, 2016, viewed at http://earlymarietta.blogspot.com/2016/02/marietta-earthworks.html

Barker, Joseph, Recollections of the First Settlement in Ohio, George Jordan Blazier, editor, Marietta, Ohio, Marietta College, 1958, pages 44-45

Century Review of Marietta, Marietta Board of Trade, 1900, page 80-82

"Cisler Terrace a Gem in Downtown Marietta," The Marietta Times, April 10, 2015.

Devol, Jerry Barker, "Lillian E. Cisler, Last of a Long Line," Tallow Light, Volume 23, No. 2, Page 60

Keith930, "What Likes Beneath our Cities' Asphalt Jungles? A Mosaic of Brick," dailykos.com website, January 5, 2012

Marietta College Historical Collections, Volume 1, "The Records of the Original Proceedings of the Ohio Company, 1917, Marietta, Ohio, Marietta Historical Commission, pages ci and 61, viewed at https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Records_of_the_Original_Proceedings.html?id=3x8mAAAAMAAJ

Marietta Register, "New Residence, Cisler House," April 23, 1886, viewed at HistoricalMarietta.blogspot.com

Marietta Register, "Running Cisler's Brick Plant to Its Full Capacity," November 27, 1890, viewed at HistoricalMarietta.blogspot.com

Marietta Register, "Too Much Whiskey," April 12, 1894, viewed at HistoricalMarietta.blogspot.com

Marietta Times, "John Greiner Song," May 20, 1869, viewed at HistoricalMarietta.blogspot.com

Marietta Times, "Cisler Brick Works: Industrial Center of City Now Site of City’s Frontier Shopping Center," April 8, 2013

Pritchard, Joan, "Local Brickmaking - A Business That Hit It Big But No Longer Exists," Tallow Light, Vol 22, No. 2, pages 68-69

Wikitree, Captain William Dana, viewed at https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Dana-306

Williams, H. Z., History of Washington County Ohio, H. Z. Williams and Bro., Cleveland OH, 1881, pages 544, 407-408

Marietta Earthworks

If you have been in Mound Cemetery or walked around at Camp Tupper Park in Marietta, Ohio, you have seen a major feature of the Marietta Earthworks. They are remnants of the vast Hopewell civilization which flourished from 100 BC to 500 AD in the eastern U.S. These impressive structures were abandoned and sat dormant for centuries. The earthworks were brought back to life at Marietta in the late 1780's - this time as objects of curiosity by settlers from the eastern U.S.

The Earthworks was a system of mounds, embankments, and open paths which occupied a major portion of the original town. Below is a map of the earthworks as drawn in the 1830's. You'll notice a large square, a smaller square, the circular Conus mound, and the graded pathway to the Muskingum River. 

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Map of Marietta Earthworks from Moundbuilder.blogspot.com; originally credited to Charles Whittlesey in Squire and Davis, Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley, but which researcher William F. Romain believes was done by Samuel R. Curtis, an engineer with the State of Ohio at the time, about 1837.

Marietta earthworks were the first in America to be documented
The earthworks were, except for a sketch of earthworks at Circleville in 1772, the first to be documented in America. That they were even noticed is remarkable considering the thick forest that blanketed the entire area.

Joseph Buell, stationed at Fort Harmar, mentions them in his journal, on February 1, 1787:..."this day I took a walk with Serg't Shaumburgh, Strong Orcatt, & Munsell to view the curiosities of the mountains which afforded us great Satisfaction...." The term "curiosities" reflected early reactions at the time to the earthworks - a blend of awe, scientific enigma, and UFO-like mystery. 

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Image of Heart's drawing, at Christoper Busta-Peck Flickr website: https://www.flickr.com/photos/cbustapeck/19577659676/in/photolist-vQ1C9u-bXbbhe-dT6Zg7-cx5e8S

The first detailed drawing, circa 1786, (see above) is attributed to Captain Jonathan Heart, also a soldier at Fort Harmar. General Josiah Harmar, the fort's namesake, wrote to General Thomas Mifflin of Philadelphia: "Be pleased to view the inclosed plan of the remains of some ancient works on the Muskingum, taken by a captain of mine (Heart), with his explanations. Various are the conjectures concerning these fortifications. From their regularity I conceive them to be the works of some civilized people. Who they were I know not. Certain it is, the present race of savages (American Indians) are strangers to anything of the kind." 

Heart's drawing and notes generated considerable scholarly interest in the east. General Samuel Parsons had toured the Ohio Valley, and had studied the Grave Creek Mound (at Moundsville, WV) and those at Marietta. In May 1786 Parsons sent his mound data (including Heart's drawing and notes) to Ezra Stiles of Yale University. Stiles forwarded the Marietta earthworks data to Thomas Jefferson and to Benjamin Franklin for their opinions on the their origin. In October of 1786, Parsons sent similar information to President Joseph Willard of Harvard University.

Noah Webster wrote a letter to Stiles supporting a theory, first mentioned by Benjamin Franklin, that the Marietta earthworks were built by Spanish explorer DeSoto during his 1539 expedition. Heart's map appeared in the May, 1787 edition of Columbian Magazine. To recap: Harvard, Yale, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Noah Webster and others expressed genuine interest in curious piles of earth in Marietta, Ohio. Pretty impressive.

Image of Columbia Magazine May 1787 issue which lists Captain Jonathan Heart's drawing in the index. It appears as Roman Numeral VII in the list. This image is from Archive.org at

https://archive.org/stream/columbianmagazin17861787phil#page/400/mode/2u

Ohio Company was proactive in research and preservation                

The Ohio Company of Associates were the organizers of the settlement of Marietta. Their leaders surveyed the earthworks, recognized their historical significance, and prudently took action to protect them. Rufus Putnam, Superintendent of the Ohio Company, conducted a detailed survey of the earthworks. Images of his work are below.

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Rufus Putnam's drawings of the mounds and earthworks and notes below, from

The Memoirs of Rufus Putnam and Certain Official Papers and Correspondence

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References to notes (on right side of the image above) on Rufus Putnam's drawing 

Manasseh Cutler, a member of the Ohio Company and an ordained minister with scientific training, also closely observed the mounds. He estimated their age by counting tree rings on some of the largest trees growing on them. The largest tree was 462 years old. There were other large stumps visible, indicating preceding growth of a similar length of time. From this he estimated that the mounds were at least 1,000 years old. This finding allowed him to refute Noah Webster's DeSoto theory.

The earthworks were considered part of the town. They were given Latin names by the Ohio Company: Quadranaou for the largest mound at Camp Tupper, Capitolium for the one at the Public library location, Conus for the Mound Cemetery mound, and Sacra Via for the parkway leading from Third Street to the Muskingum River.

The groupings of earthworks (refer to the Whittlesey drawing above) also had informal titles. The largest square enclosure was "The Town," the smaller square "The Fort," the cemetery mound was the "Great Mound and Ditch," and Sacra Via was the "Covered Way." 

Preservation efforts - success and failure

The Quadranaou, Capitolium, Conus mounds and Sacra Via parkway were set aside as protected common areas by the Ohio Company: "Resolved, That Colonel Battelle, Colonel Crary, and Major Sergeant be a committee to lease the public squares (to Samuel H. Parsons, Rufus Putnam, and Griffin Green, esqs.), the ones on which the great mound (Conus), the Quadranaou, and Capitolium,....The committee are to point out the mode of improvement for (beautification), and in what manner the ancient works shall be preserved...."

Those earthworks were thus leased to individuals for safekeeping. Sacra Via was under the informal supervision of Rufus Putnam. This system was continued over time, but there were serious lapses. Conus was set aside as a cemetery, but it was not fenced for decades. The mound suffered serious erosion from sheep and people climbing the mound - compounded by water runoff. The mound was eventually repaired and fenced.

In 1820, Quadranaou was being leased to D. Hartshorn who transferred control to Rev. Joseph Willard. Incredibly, Willard started plowing down the mound! Fortunately, there was a public outcry. A legal wrangle ensued, but courts sided with the city's control of the property. Willard was removed and citizens worked to restore the damage. 

The special case of Sacra Via

Sacra Via (Latin for Sacred Way) was the excavated graded pathway from Quadranaou to the Muskingum River. It was to be protected..."never to be disturbed or defaced, as common ground, not to be enclosed." But the large boundary walls were destroyed in a regrettable lapse in governance. A city council member, who was a brickmaker, talked the city council into selling the earthen walls to him for bricks. The bricks were reportedly used in the construction of the Unitarian Church.

The original Sacra Via earthwork was a dominant structure, quite different from the level park of today. Parallel earthen walls bounded the Sacra Via parkway for a  length of 680 feet. The rounded walls were nearly 40 feet wide and 8 ft high. The interior pathway descended uniformly toward the river, and was excavated below the surrounding terrain. The pathway was 8 ft below grade at the upper end but steepened to 18-20 ft near the river. 

The effect was dramatic. Someone standing in the lower pathway would have been looking 20+ ft upward to see the top of sidewalls. Some theorized that the below grade section was for a defensive military feature to allow an undetected avenue of escape to the river. A Charles Sullivan charcoal drawing of the scene (below) conveys some of the visual effect. We know boundary walls were used for bricks, but what happened to the graded excavation? It's barely discernible now.       

From Ohio History Connection Archaeology Blog: "It's that most wonderful time of the year", Dec 13, 2010
Americanantiquarian.org.: Ancient Works, Marietta, Ohio. Based on a painting, this lithograph shows the (Sacra Via) elevated plain with elaborately constructed fortifications. “Ancient Works, Marietta, Ohio,” in Ephraim G. Squier and Edwin H. Davis, Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley(Washington: Smithsonian Institution, 1848), pl. 26, p. 73.

The challenge of protecting our heritage

Unfortunately, much of the original Marietta Earthworks network of extensive boundary walls and smaller mounds has been destroyed over time. These were on private property, not in protected areas. 

Fortunately, enough of the major features remain for us to realize their importance, uniqueness, and cultural value. But there will always be preservation challenges - from wear, erosion, and land use changes over time. It is imperative that we remain faithful stewards in protecting them and in pressing for additional research about them.

https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:VA6C2:78a4a6af-cf99-4bfa-97df-3c825f635d25

Sources:

Ancient Ohio Trails website: ancientohiotrails.org, "Marietta" page views

Barnhart, Terry A., American Antiquities, Revisiting the Origins of American Archaeology, University of Nebraska Board of Regents, 2015, pages 96-115, viewed at Google Books-https://books.google.com/

Butterfield, Willshire, Consul, Journal of Capt Jonathan Heart, etc., Albany, NY, Joseph Munsell's Sons, 1885, pages x-xiv.                                                                                         Foster, J. W., Prehistoric Races of the United States of America, Chicago, S. J. Griggs and Company, 1874, pages 128-30, 351

Lepper, Bradley T, Ohio Archaeology, Wilmington OH, Orange Frazer Press, 2005, pages 164-68, 241

Lynott, Mark J., Hopewell Ceremonial Landscapes of Ohio, Havertown, PA, Oxbow Books, 2014

Maclean, J. P., "Ancient Works at Marietta," Ohio Archaeological and Historical Publications, Volume XXII, Pages 37-66, viewed at http://www.ohio.edu/people/sandford/Articles/AncientWorksatMarietta.html.                     

The Memoirs of Rufus Putnam and Certain Official Papers and Correspondence, The National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in Ohio, edited and compiled by Rowena Buell, Boston and New York, Houghton Mifflin and Company, 1903.

"Mound Cemetery (Marietta, Ohio)," Wikiwand.com, viewed at http://www.wikiwand.com/en/Mound_Cemetery_(Marietta,_Ohio)

Sandford, Chris, website "Marietta Earthworks" at http://www.ohio.edu/people/sandford

Williams, H. Z., History of Washington County, H. Z. Williams & Bro., 1881, Chapter XXXVI, Pages 439-443 excerpt, viewed at a website created by Chris Sandford http://www.ohio.edu/people/sandford/Articles/MariettaWilliams.html

Wikiwand.com

Winter Solstice

I had learned just recently that certain of the Marietta (Ohio) Hopewell earthworks were built to align with sunset on the winter solstice. They formed a 2,000 year old astronomical observatory system. William F. Romain documented this with measurements in his book Mysteries of the Hopewell. The book displays a cover photo - taken by the author on December 21, 1996 - of the winter solstice sunset at Sacra Via in Marietta:

December 21, 2015, the usual date for the winter solstice, was overcast and cold. It was definitely not sunset viewing weather. Luckily for us the winter solstice for 2015 was on December 22, a sunny and clear day. I decided at the last moment to view this event for myself.

My grandson Connor was visiting with us. The two of us drove to Camp Tupper, the park where the Quadranaou mound is located. I was surprised to find a sizable group of people standing atop the flat mound. They were clustered along the axis line on the mound where the setting sun at that moment was, just as advertised, perfectly aligned. I was transfixed. It was awesome, in the true sense of that word. 

Photo by author on December 22, 2015 on Quadranaou mound. The group in the center foreground is roughly lined up on the axis pointing to the setting sun.

Folks were watching, taking pictures, gesturing, and chatting with each other. Many were talking with Wesley Clarke, a local archaeologist, who had presented a program and was now answering questions. He handed out a copy of the Charles Whittlesey map of the Marietta earthworks published in 1837, a portion of which is shown below.

Above:Photo by author of map distributed by archaeologist Wesley Clarke on December 22, 2015. The map is based on an original drawing (see image below) published in 1837 commonly attributed to Charles Whittlesey, but which author Romain believes was done by Samuel R. Curtis, a civil engineer for the State of Ohio at the time.

Below: full version of the drawing, from Squire and Davis, Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley.

The Marietta Earthworks is a group of mounds, embankments, and open paths which occupied a major portion of the original town. There were two large structure groupings (which appear as squares in the bottom drawing) and the graded pathway (Sacra Via) to the Muskingum River. There were also earthworks at other locations in the Muskingum River valley. They were part of extensive earthworks throughout the eastern U.S. credited to the Hopewell civilization which flourished from 100 BC to 500 AD.

Look at the top drawing above to visualize the sunset alignment. Find the rectangular mound with an extension on each side - marked A. That is the Quadranaou mound in Camp Tupper park. The line connecting the two side ramps pointing towards the river is the axis to the sunset. Find the mound marked B, to the right of A. That is the Capitolium mound where the public library now stands. It too lines up with the sun and so also does the Sacra Via parkway connecting the large square to the river - labeled "Graded Way" in the drawing. 

William F. Romain's solstice sunset calculations are meticulous and fascinating. He compares expected calculations of the sunset direction - based on the latitude and estimated age of the mounds - to the current orientation of the mounds today. The calculation is adjusted for the height of the opposite ridge (Harmar Hill) where the sun "sets" over the hill.

Here is his narrative: "...from Aveni's tables* we find that given a date of A.D. 250, 39 degrees 20 minutes north latitude, lower limb tangency, and a 7.0 degree horizon elevation, the winter solstice sun would have set at an azimuth of 231.3463. Recall that the azimuth of the Quad Mound's minor axis is 231.5. Accordingly, the Quad Mound is aligned to the winter solstice sunset to within two-tenths of one degree (231.5 - 231.3463 = .153 degree." Pretty, close, eh? There are similar computations for the Capitolium Mound and Sacra Via.

*Computerized calculations generated by Dr. Anthony F. Aveni, Colgate University physics and astronomy professor.

John E. Hancock of the University of Cincinnati has studied many Hopewell earthwork structures. He notes that: "Studies of the (Hopewell) earthworks indicate that the builders had a remarkable understanding of mathematics and geometry, a deep knowledge of astronomy, a common unit of measure, and reliable methods of surveying. It also indicates that the Hopewell people did not lay out their earthworks in a haphazard manner. They built them according to a predetermined plan that incorporated the cyclical movements of the sun, moon, and perhaps the planets and stars as well."

The Marietta earthworks are in a select group of structures built by civilizations around the world that marked solstice solar and lunar events. Newark Earthworks in Ohio is one excellent example among Hopewell structures. There are numerous examples from other civilizations, including Stonehenge and the Glastonbury Tor in England, the pyramids of Egypt, the Goseck Circle in Germany, Chichen Itza in Mexico, the four-handed Moai statue on Easter Island, Newgrange in Ireland, the Temple of Karnak in Egypt, and many others.

The amazing thing to me is that so many different civilizations noticed the solstice/equinox cycles, considered them important, and created structures to observe them. All of this occurred independently, since many of these cultures presumably did not interact with each other.

Much of Marietta's earthworks network has been destroyed over the years. We are fortunate that some major features have been preserved. They remind us today of our unique heritage, hiding in plain sight and often taken for granted, shared with ancient cultures around the world.

Sources:

Ancient Ohio Trails website: ancientohiotrails.org, "Marietta" page views

Lepper, Bradley T, Ohio Archaeology, Wilmington OH, Orange Frazer Press, 2005,

Lynott, Mark J., Hopewell Ceremonial Landscapes of Ohio, Havertown, PA, Oxbow Books, 2014

Maclean, J. P., "Ancient Works at Marietta," Ohio Archaeological and Historical Publications, Volume XXII, Pages 37-66, viewed at http://www.ohio.edu/people/sandford/Articles/AncientWorksatMarietta.html

Ohio History Connection Archaeology Blog: "It's that most wonderful time of the year", Dec 13, 2010

Pritchard, Angela and Belsebuub, Path of the Spiritual Sun, on line extract at Belsebuub.com: "Ancient Sacred Sites Aligned to the Winter Solstice," copyright BelsebuubDotCom, 2012

Sandford, Chris, website "Marietta Earthworks" at http://www.ohio.edu/people/sandford
Williams, H. Z., History of Washington County, H. Z. Williams & Bro., 1881, Chapter XXXVI, Pages 439-443 excerpt, viewed at a website created by Chris Sandford http://www.ohio.edu/people/sandford/Articles/MariettaWilliams.html