MOSAIC

History v. Hitting Balls

for the Octagon Octagon Earthworks, a Native American ceremonial site in Newark. But Moundbuilders Country Club, whose Club's ground lease on the 50-acre site, now a private golf course, runs until 2078, is holding up the application. After the state and the club could not arrange a buyout of the lease, Ohio History Connection, a nonprofit that manages historic sites and archives for the state, petitioned on November 28 to regain the property through eminent domain. The club had until late January 2019 to reply. Geometrically complex Octagon Earthworks, thought to have been an astronomical observatory, once had walls 12 feet high. Within today’s gently undulant expanse are outlines of an ancient circle and octagon, both enormous. The octagon’s corners align with moonrises and -sets at specific dates over an 18.6-year cycle. The site—an element of Newark Earthworks, which once spread four square miles—was constructed by a people known as the Hopewell Culture for the