Octagon Mound Petition

We the undersigned are contributing to Barbara Crandell's fine and court costs because we support increased public access to the Newark Octagon.

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Checks should be made out to the Native American Alliance and mailed to 539 Loys Run, Lucasville, Ohio 45648.



Support Greater Public Access to the Octagon Mound!

The Octagon Mound in Newark, Ohio, is part of a complex of ancient earthworks built about 250 A.D. by the ancestors of Native Americans. Recently an international team of archaeologists included the Octagon and other parts of the Newark Earthworks in a book entitled The Seventy Wonders of the Ancient World edited by Christopher Scarre of Cambridge University and published in England. While scholars consider the site immensely significant, Native Americans believe it is sacred.

Barbara Crandell, a 73 year old Cherokee woman, has been praying at the Octagon for more than twenty years. She was arrested for trespassing when she went to pray on June 23, 2002, and was found guilty in the Licking County Municipal Court on November 7. She was fined $250 plus court costs, a combined total of $874.27.

Barbara had reason to believe the site is public. It was purchased with tax payer dollars by the city of Newark in 1893 and the deed is held by the Ohio Historical Society. However a private country club has leased the land since 1910. Barbara is innocent if the land is public, guilty if it is a private site.

The Friends of the Mounds, a coalition of archaeologists, Indians, educators and others believes the site must be open to the public. We are collecting money to pay Barbara's fine and court costs and we are collecting the signatures of people who support public access to the site.

For more information see

Dr. Richard Shiels

shiels.1@osu.edu