It is unfortunate that ancient Native American artifacts and sites would be sullied by the adjacent building of an extremely large correctional facility that houses Ohio's death row inmates. I have to assume that they did not know these mounds were sacred/important when the Chillicothe Correctional Institute was built. It is chilling to think that Charles Manson was once held there.
Regarding the site itself, it may be a misnomer to say that the site is enclosed to this one location when there are sacred Native American sites all over southern central Ohio. Supposedly the mounds here were built by Native Americans that flourished here between 200 B.C. and AD 500. The mounds on the site seem to be nothing more than that, but an informational video at the visitor's center makes it clear that the mounds may have a celestial importance (much like Stonehenge in England). I couldn't quite grasp the full explanation in the video film was in development (they were trying it out during my visit of February 2012), but apparently the stars line up with certain points on some of the structures within the site on the solstice. Perhaps this was lucky at one site, but the same structures were built dozens of miles a way in such a manner that they too would line up so there has to be something there, right?
The visit to the park itself is short, one needs no more than 90 minutes or so to hit the educational video and take a walk around the site. There are nice explanatory markers along the hiking route which is no more than a mile. The markers may inform you about cremations, burials, and other artifacts identified during archaeological digs around the site.
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