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AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES.P^scriptiou «r Ma* Great 8«rp*int Mound In _\lt;Lvt:is Couiitr. O,The great serpent mournl in Adams Countv, 0., one ru,ile i-ust ei' London, wliieh lias rouently been purchased by the Peabody Institute auil Jlurvurd University for the purpose uf preserving it intact, is the most remarkable of the three effigy Indian monads in that Suite. It is known locally as the “Snake and mound aud is saidto be the only mound of the kind in existence. It is thus described in tho Philadelphia Cull:The mound is on u cresccnt-shaped spur of land on the farm owned by John J. Lovett. This spur rises to a height of one hundred and twenty feet abot*e the level of Brash creek, which washes its western base. The spur has curves and depressions, j and conforming to these the serpent occupies the summit, its head rising near the north end and its body winding back in snake-like undulations for about seven hundred feet. At the tail there is a triple coil, and from the swell at the middle to the end of the tail there is a gradual taper until the end terminates in a point. The head, however, is the most remarkable part of the serpent, and is so well defined that it strikes tho visitor with awe. Tho neck is stretched out and curved slightly, and the mouth is open wide, as if in the act oi swallowing an oval-shaped circle, Intended no doubt to represent an egg.The space inclosed bv this circle is eighty-six feet long and about thirty feet wide at the widest place, which is near the southern end. There is a platform, about ten feet wide, at the point of the spear, apparently graded to conform to the outline of the serpent. There was formerly what is supposed to have been a stone altar just at the north of the center of the figure, but it has been torn down, and only a few stones arc left to m.ark the spot. The mouth of the serpent is formed by an embankment about two and a.half feet high, eighteen feet wide in the central part, and following the- outline oi the large part of the egg-shaped figure, but nearly twenty feet from it, the'distance from the point of the jaws to the* curve ol the mouth being one hundred feet. The neck of the serpent is fourteen feet wide, and to the swell, where the body begins, about (me hundred feet. On each side oi the head there can be traced projections, curving outward and downward for nearly thirty feet.The serpent occupies nearly six acres o1 ground, and the purchase was of that amount, for which the agent paid Mr. Lovett seventy dollars per acre. The intern tion is to inclose the grounds, and, after restoring the portions of the mound that have either been plowed down or otherwise destroyed, trees will be set out and a roac graded.
Newspaper Details
Lawrence Evening Tribune
Lawrence, Kansas, US
Thu, Sep 08, 1887
Page 3
Full Page
Clipped by
Delsey W.
USA 29 Oct 2021
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