Squier & Davis published survey of the site in 1848
Alligator Mound
In spite of its name, the mound likely was not intended to represent an alligator. To me it looks much like a flattened squirrel, but whatever its original concept was, we'll never know. It does appear to be the shape of a four-footed creature with a round head and a long tail that curls slightly at the end.
Alligator Mound is an effigy mound located in Granville. The mound is 200' long and 5' - 6' high at its highest point and is located on the top of a bluff overlooking the Raccoon Creek Valley 150' below. Besides the effigy mound, there was also a stone path that led to circular stone patio. Early studies indicated that these rocks had been a place of numerous fires. In a 1999 excavation of the mound, radiocarbon dating of ashes found inside the mound indicate that mound dated back to around the 1300s making it part of the Fort Ancient Culture.
The Alligator Mound is surrounded by a residential neighborhood. When neighborhood construction began encroaching on the sleeping Alligator Mound, it was almost lost to the bulldozer. However, in the 1980s the developer set aside the current 1.5 acre tract of land which now owned by the Licking County Historical Society. The mound is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and located on the eastern outskirts of Granville, at the end of Bryn Du Drive.
