The Serpent Mound of Adams County has received an honor that could lead to a local impact, but that impact, if it happens, could be at least 10 years away. Beginning with a local interest and making it to the U.S. Department of the Interior, the effigy mound has been placed on a tentative list of U.S. nominations to the World Heritage list of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
"When sites are granted the award, attendance numbers usually skyrocket," said Delsey Wilson, director of the group Friends of Serpent Mound. "It could be an extremely huge thing for Adams County. If it happens, we have to take into account the roads, parking and how to accommodate the increased number of visitors. Some sites have gone from 300 visitors a year to 300 visitors a month after being placed on the World Heritage list."
The new sites announced for the tentative list can be considered over the next 10 years for formal nomination by the United States as World Heritage Sites, according to a press release from the USDI.
"We have no idea which sites will be chosen," Wilson said. "It's a great honor even to be put on the tentative list."
Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne included the properties on the tentative list after receiving applications from the owners of 35 sites, all of whom applied voluntarily. In order to be included, a proposed site had to meet several U.S. prerequisites in addition to appearing to meet the stringent World Heritage criteria of international importance; the U.S. prerequisites included the written agreement of all property owners to the nomination of their property, general support from stakeholders, including elected officials, and a prior official determination that the property was nationally important (such as by designation as a National Historic or National Natural Landmark).
World Heritage Sites are designated under an international treaty called the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, adopted by UNESCO in 1972. The United States was the prime architect of the Convention, proposed by President Richard M. Nixon, and was the first nation to ratify it.
There are now 851 World Heritage sites in 140 countries. Currently there are 20 sites in the United States already listed. The sites closest to Adams County are Mammoth Cave National Park, located in the state of Kentucky, and Great Smoky Mountains National Park, nearly half a million acres located in Tennessee and North Carolina. Both were inscribed on the World Heritage list in the early 80s.
Three sites from Ohio have been placed on the USDI tentative list. One site, the Dayton Aviation Sites, is actually four sites associated with the Wright Brothers' pioneering efforts in human flight, in and around the city. The sites are Huffman Prairie, the former Wright Cycle Company and Wright & Wright Printing building, Wright Hall and Hawthorn Hill, Orville Wright's home between 1914 and 1948.
The other Ohio site is the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks. The earthworks include Fort Ancient State Memorial, between Cincinnati and Dayton; the five sites in Hopewell Culture National Historical Park, near Chillicothe; and the Newark Earthworks State Historic Site in the cities of Newark and Heath.
Reader Comments Posted: Saturday, November 28, 2009
Article comment by:
Barry Heermann
Dear Carieta
I found your article on the web regarding the serpent mound. I would like to contact Delsey Wilson, affiliated with the Friends of the Serpent Mound. Could you pass along my email to him or provide me with his email or tel no?
Thank You, Barry Heermann [937 767 0280 in Yellow Springs, OH -- email: Tspirit123@aol.com]
