I first became fascinated with Indian burial grounds after watching The Shining. Although Stephen King’s original novel barely mentions an Indian burial ground or any Native American influence, Kubrick’s film clearly uses the desecration of sacred land as a metaphor for the past’s relentless intrusion on the present. The film also comments on America’s tendency to “overlook” its history of indigenous genocide. The Overlook Hotel—with its ominous maze and the eerie July 4th Ball scene—stands as a symbol of this historical amnesia.
For much of the American public in the 1970s, the idea that Native American history had been trampled underfoot was both new and unsettling. What could be more chilling than the notion that our worst historical mistakes might one day come back to haunt us?
One striking example of this layered past is the Marietta Earthworks site—a 2,000‑year‑old ceremonial center of the Hopewell culture (constructed between 100 BC and AD 500). Located in southern Ohio on the border of West Virginia, this region is considered the epicenter of the Hopewell earthworks. Incidentally, the name “Ohio” comes from the Seneca word ohiːyo’, meaning “good river,” “great river,” or “large creek.”
The modern story of Ohio began in an unexpected place—a Boston tavern in 1786. After the American Revolutionary War had driven the British out, conversations turned to the “wild west” of Ohio and Kentucky. When the Ohio Company landed at the confluence of the Muskingum and Ohio rivers in 1788, they encountered mysterious earthworks and mounds. In fact, early settlers are even thought to have planned their new community around these ancient structures rather than over them. Notably, the British government had already sought to improve relations with the Native Americans in the Ohio territory by restricting settlement there.
However, as colonists pushed westward, conflicts with Native American tribes increased. Stationing troops on the frontier was expensive, so Britain preferred to keep settlers within areas where established military forces could maintain order. If settlers expanded too rapidly, they would bypass British oversight, making it harder to enforce trade regulations like the Navigation Acts—which required goods to move through British-controlled channels. By confining settlements near established trade hubs, Britain could keep commerce under its control.
Beginning with the Proclamation of 1763, the British colonial government had tried to manage westward expansion by restricting settlement beyond the Appalachian Mountains. Intended to reduce conflicts with Native American tribes after the French and Indian War, the proclamation reserved large territories for indigenous peoples. Though it acknowledged their presence, the policy was more about regulating colonial growth for British strategic interests than about affirming Native sovereignty.
These restrictions were among many grievances that fueled colonial unrest and helped spark the American Revolution. Settlers chafed under British policies—including heavy taxation and a lack of representation—which ultimately led to the Treaty of Paris in 1783, formally ending the war and recognizing U.S. independence.
Yet in the years following independence, American expansion continued at the expense of Native American lands. Through a series of treaties, pressures, and forced removals, indigenous communities were gradually displaced. By the mid‑19th century—around 1843—the last significant Native American groups in Ohio had been compelled to relinquish their land.
American independence, while a triumph for the new nation, proved disastrous for Native Americans. Some tribes had allied with the British during the American Revolution and the War of 1812 in hopes of defending their territories, while others chose neutrality. These stances often reinforced the perception of Native peoples as obstacles to progress, rather than as fellow inhabitants of the land. This deep-seated view helped fuel policies aimed at removing Native Americans to open up more territory for settlement and economic development.
As Faulkner famously wrote, “The past is never dead. It’s not even the past.” The landscapes of Ohio remain steeped in history—a diverse mosaic once home to the Miami, Shawnee, Delaware, Wyandot, Ottawa, Potawatomi, Kickapoo, and many other tribes. Even groups more commonly associated with other regions, such as the Iroquois, Chippewa, and Illini, interacted with Ohio’s indigenous peoples, underscoring the complex tapestry of migration, alliance and conflict in early America.
Note: The inhabitants of the American colonies were known as “Americans” from as early as the 1600s. However, this term originally distinguished British subjects living in the colonies from those in Britain—it was not a national identity in the modern sense.