Ohio History Journal

Ohio, the Site of the Garden of Eden

Ohio, the Site of the Garden of Eden. 225

OHIO, THE SITE OF THE GARDEN OF EDEN.

THE SERPENT MOUND. THE HOME OF ADAM AND EVE.

THE THEORY OF REV. LANDON WEST.

[The following article is not exactly archaeology nor history though

it contains something of each. It is, however, so unique and entertain-

ing that we reproduce it as it has been given to the public in the daily

press.]-EDITOR.

Here is food for the "higher critics," the Egyptologists, arch-

aeologists and the Biblical students of all classes. The Garden

of Eden, it seems, is now definitely located. The site is in Ohio,

"Adams" county, to be more precise. The discoverer is the Rev.

Mr. Landon West of Pleasant Hill, also in Ohio.

The famous Serpent Mound of Ohio is the key to the whole

discovery, according to the New York Herald. No object that

has ever been discovered possesses for archaeologists such intense

and varied interest as this curious earthwork. Since 1849, when

it was first accurately surveyed by Messrs. Squire and Davis, it

has been a Mecca for archaeologists from all parts of the world.

Volumes have been written about it, and every theory conceivable

by the mind of man has been advanced as to the purpose of the

vast work. Now, it has a new and vivid interest.

It has been called a shrine and an alter, a cemetery and a place

for worship, it has been shown to be an idol and a place where

human beings were sacrificed-all to the perfect satisfaction of

the learned persons making the various guesses.

The character of this mound is so unique and totally different

from any of the other remains of earthworks left by the so-called

Mound Builders that every utterance made in relation to it in-

stantly attracts the notice of the scholars. Professor Putnam of

Harvard university prepared an exhaustive account of the mound

and gave his theory as to its significance. It was through his ef-

forts that the mound was saved from total destruction. In 1887

he visited it for the first time and was powerfully impressed with

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226 Ohio Arch

226 Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.

its tremendous significance. He impressed the college authorities

with the value of the mound, and later it passed into the posses-

sion of the college. Later in 1889, it was formally presented by

Harvard college to the State Archaelogical and Historical society

of Ohio.

Professor Putnam conducted extensive explorations in the

hope of learning the true character and significance of the work

and made examinations which revealed something of the great

age of the mound. It is held by some that undoubtedly it was

old before the Chinese wall was built and that it was finished and

disintegrating when the children of Israel slaved in Egypt. It

is also probable, judging from the condition of the soil that covers

the figure, that it was part of the "things universal" that were

overwhelmed by the flood.

The Rev. Landon West of Pleasant Hill, O., a prominent

and widely known minister of the Baptist church, has just out-

lined a theory concerning the creation and significance of the

mound widely different from all those of the scientists. He be-

lieves that the mound itself was created by the hand of the

Creator of the world, and that it marks the site of the Garden

of Eden. He believes that the mound is purely symbolical and

has no significance relative to the religion or worship of any race

of men, but is intended to teach by object lesson the fall of man

and the consequences of sin in the Garden of Eden.

The Rev. Mr. West was born and lived to manhood near the

mound. Early in life he conceived the idea that the mound was

not an object of worship nor a place of sacrifice, nor for inter-

ment, nor yet a spot where the tribes of the earth came together

to discuss the affairs of the primitive nations. He conceived it

to be a mighty object lesson to give expression to some great

event that had occurred in the history of mankind. If intended

for an object lesson, its meaning was too plain and palpable for

discussion or argument. Plainly it was meant to illustrate the

"first sad event" in the Garden of Eden, the deception of the

woman by the serpent, and man's subsequent expulsion from the

Garden and all the attendant ills of sin, pain and death. All of

these, he maintains, are adequately expressed by this Serpent

Mound.

Ohio, the Site of the Garden of Eden

Ohio, the Site of the Garden of Eden. 227

The jaws of the serpent are wide open, as if in the act of

swallowing the oval-shaped fruit there situated. The Rev. Mr.

West declares that it represents the fruit with which Satan be-

guiled and tempted Eve. It is a very good representation of a

gigantic plum or lemon or some such fruit as grows upon a tree.

The Bible refers to the fruit of the tree with which Satan, that

old serpent, did tempt Eve by telling her it was good to eat.

How could this very idea and circumstance of deception be better

represented on the part of a serpent, inquires this scholar, than to

show it in the act of itself eating fruit, when it is well known that

serpents do not eat fruit? The Rev. Mr. West maintains that

the situation of this oval object, which scientists term an altar,

at the wide open jaws of the serpent would appear to deny their

claim that it is an altar. Reason indicates a contrary theory;

that the open jaws were meant to betray the purpose of the ser-

pent to swallow the fruit. Else why should the jaws be open?

The only meaning of the open jaws, he asserts, is to show the in-

tention of the serpent to swallow the fruit. This portion of the

mound represents the deception; the writhings and twisting of the

body indicate the pangs of death and physical suffering.

It would seem that this perplexing and mysterious image was

created to express an idea, and is, therefore, purely symbolical.

What it symbolizes can be surmised only from the image itself

and any supporting history that may be found. If it be con-

ceded that the serpent mound is symbolical of man's fall in the

Garden of Eden, and the Rev. Mr. West, after years of study, is

confident that it expresses no other lesson, then the question

arises, how did this prehistoric race obtain knowledge of that

event?

The Rev. Mr. West arrives at the conclusion that this great

work was created either by God himself or by man inspired by

Him to make an everlasting object lesson of man's disobedience,

Satan's perfidy and the results of sin and death. In support of

this startling claim the Rev. Mr. West quotes Scripture and re-

fers to Job 16:13: "By His spirit He hath garnished the heavens;

His hand hath formed the crooked serpent."

He also applies the discoveries of Professor Putnam to es-

tablish his theory. Professor Putnam learned that the depth of

228 Ohio Arch

228 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

soil on the image was equal to that covering the surrounding

country and was of similar properties and composition. This

important discovery justified the statement that the work itself

had been created prior to the formation of the soil which now

covers the earth. This discovery, however, by no means fixes the

time of the serpent's creation. It merely establishes the fact that

the soil covering the image had never been disturbed by the hand

of man. The tremendous ridge which constitutes the super-

structure, if it may be so called, must have been formed long be-

fore the beginning of the slow process of the soil formation by

nature in her never ending task of creation.

That the mound is co-existent with the hills and valleys

that surround it and make the vicinity a veritable paradise of

beauty is not claimed by the Rev. Mr. West. But the scientists

have shown that it is older than the soil that gives life to the

trees and verdure, and therefore, according to general belief, it

must have been washed by the waves of the flood, since the agent

removed the antediluvian soil from its resting place. The Rev.

Mr. West does not claim that the image was created in the day

when the world was made, but subsequently, when the Creator de-

sired to place before the eyes of mankind an object lesson ex-

pressive of the power and wiles of Satan as manifested in the

Garden of Eden, and at the same time and in the same image to

portray the pains and penalties of sin and the enduring pangs of

death.

The noble dimensions and perfect proportions of this ma-

jestic figure suggest to his mind the hand and intelligence of a

divine Creator with limitless resources. It is on a high ridge or

rocky cliff that thrusts itself into the peaceful and lovely valley

like the prow of some mighty ship into a calm sea. The ridge

points to the north and extends back into a smiling land sugges-

tive of peace, happiness and security. The head of the serpent

lies upon the point of rock and the winding coils of the body

reach back a thousand feet to the south, where the tail terminates

in coils thrice repeated. The oval object, representative of the

forbidden fruit, is a hundred feet long and has a depression in the

center. The size of the jaws is proportionate to the size of the

figure, exact as in nature, which has been ascertained by measure-

Ohio, the Site of the Garden of Eden

Ohio, the Site of the Garden of Eden. 229

ments of living serpents. The surrounding country is beautiful

beyond description. Rich valleys stretch away beside three shin-

ing streams, which converge near the great serpent. These three

streams are interpreted as typical of the Holy Trinity - Father,

Son and Holy Spirit.

The image portrays the desception in the attitude of the ser-

pent in the act of eating fruit; pain and death are shown by the

convolutions of the serpent, just as the living animal would betray

pain and death's agony. The third chapter of Genesis is the only

written history the world has of the fall of man and the cause that

brought about his ruin. There are other references to it in the

prophecies and revelations and all of these accounts agree and

compare in a singularly close way, this student says, with the

lesson imparted by the great serpent. That this remarkable con-

formity could have been effected by beings ignorant of the great

lesson actually symbolized, Mr. West holds, is ridiculous. That

the image antedates the arrival on this continent of any European

discoverer who could have brought the story of the creation and

of man's fall is likewise an assured fact, he declares.

After many years he learned that the Bible nowhere says that

the Garden of Eden was located in Asia, and that its statements

will not conflict with the theory that the Garden was actually in

the Western hemisphere. The events of Eden occurred at a very

early time in the history of the world, long before the time de-

scribed by any historian. Moses is the only writer of history who

describes the Garden of Eden and the events that occurred

therein. The time when he wrote was 2500 years after the cre-

ation. He received this information from no written word, but

from the inspiration of the Lord. No man was alive who knew it

before Moses. The Rev. Mr. West affirms it to be his belief that

the figure of the serpent was drawn by the hand of the Creator,

and that America is, in fact, the land in which Eden was located.

Note Genesis 2:8; II Kings 19:12; Ezekiel 27:23; 28:13; 31:8,

and 29:18.

A curious and not unimportant consideration in connection

with the mound is the fact that a crook was made in the northern

line of the county containing the figure in order that the entire

230 Ohio Arch

230 Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.

work might be contained within the county, which was established

in 1790.

"This figure," says Rev. Mr. West, "is the most ancient

record of history known to exist. It shows first sin and its im-

mediate results as Moses also records them, and up to the time

of the flood, which occurred in the year of the world 1655, it gave

an actual object lesson and record of Eden and its events. But

after the flood and until Moses, in the year 2500, the record of the

creation, of the fall of man, of death, and of the flood, as well

as of all other events retained till now of the history of the world,

was taught and obtained only by tradition. Yet during all that

time this perfect illustration of thought and of history was in ex-

istence, created beyond doubt to portray the one sad event and to

mark the spot where God's Word and that form of teaching were

first given to the human family. All that Job says of the event

he learned by tradition, and no less than 2500 years after its oc-

currence.

"All that education, science, history, revelation and art can

do to illustrate the thoughts of intelligent beings either on earth

or in heaven has not been found to excel in clearness this ser-

pent image in setting forth the one event in Eden's garden.

"This serpent figure was made long before the first copy of

God's book was printed, yet it supports the written or inspired

history of the human race. Will any one say that those who de-

signed the serpent mound did not have in mind the event of sin

and death as it occurred in the Garden of Eden? "

VIEW OF PROFESSOR W. J. M'GEE OF THE BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY.

The serpent mound is prehistoric. We do not know just

how old it is, but we may judge that it is not more than 1000

years old, nor less than 350 years. It was built, presumably, by

the Indians who occupied that region at the time when it was first

discovered by the whites. The white pioneers found the pre-

sumptive descendants of the builders of the serpent mound still in

possession of the territory on which this mighty monument to

their ancestors' religious faith had been erected.

Of the important place which religion held in the lives of

these people we may judge rom the mighty monuments they left