Mark the Winter Solstice at Fort Ancient

Through the crisp morning air, the orange sun rises slowly and perches itself in the valley formed by two mounds, exactly the way it has done on the winter solstice for millennia. 

The hilltop enclosure at Fort Ancient Earthworks and Nature Preserve in Oregonia was constructed more than 2,000 years ago by the Indigenous religious movement we now refer to as the Hopewell culture. The UNESCO World Heritage Site holds an annual winter solstice viewing event Dec. 21. 

“These earthworks are sacred places,” says site supervisor and archaeologist Bill Kennedy. “You can think of them as great earthen open‑air cathedrals.”

Some of the Hopewell culture’s key beliefs surround geometry and astronomical alignments. Because the winter solstice is the shortest day of the year, Kennedy says that, for many cultures, this became a time of seeking renewal to begin a new cycle. 

The earthwork itself covers about 126 acres and was intentionally constructed. There are specific mounds and gaps in the earthwork wall that align with solar and lunar events. In the case of winter solstice, the sun rises and sits perfectly in a break in the earthen wall. 

“If it’s winter solstice sunrise, if you are standing at a very specific mound and looking through a very specific kind of gateway, you see the sunrise there,” Kennedy says, “which is what it was built to do 2,000 years ago and still does today.”

The winter solstice viewing is a free event that usually has a quiet and contemplative atmosphere. Gates open at 7 a.m., and Kennedy recommends that visitors arrive by 7:30 a.m. for the smoothest parking experience. The sun rises at about 7:45 a.m. and is followed by an 8:30 a.m. guided tour of the museum and grounds. Cloud cover can obscure the sunrise, but tours still proceed. 

“It’s a great introduction because the astronomical alignments are one of the things that is hardest to understand if you’re not actually visualizing it,” Kennedy says. “When you’re seeing it in the rest of the year, you have to imagine what it’s going to look like. But when you’re there on the solstice, you can see it as it was intended.” 

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