SunWatch Indian Village/Archaeological Park
SunWatch Indian Village/Archaeological Park
4.5
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Tuesday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Wednesday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Thursday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Friday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Saturday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Sunday
12:00 PM - 5:00 PM
About
SunWatch offers exploration and learning, both indoors and out! Visitors will enjoy immersing themselves in the 800-year-old reconstructed Village that features several structures located in their original, exact locations, as well as learning about the history of the Village and its inhabitants in the indoor Interpretive Center.
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Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.
Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as wait time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.
Popular mentions
4.5
117 reviews
Excellent
56
Very good
47
Average
11
Poor
2
Terrible
1
USALouise
Illinois789 contributions
Sep 2020
My husband and I stopped here while on the road, trying to find a safe outdoor activity during COVID-19 times. Viewing the film beforehand is essential to appreciating the reconstruction of the village structures and what the village would have originally looked like. I was very appreciative of the people of Ohio and Native Americans who helped recreate the site. The visit might be more interesting in other times, as there was no guide outdoors to ask questions. Obviously attendance must be lower at this time. It would be quite wonderful to visit the site during a Pow Wow.
Written September 29, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Misty321
Brooklyn, OH180 contributions
Jul 2014 • Family
Found SunWatch on Trip advisor and glad we decided to go there. Had older kids with us and they enjoyed both the museum and walking around the village that had been replicated on the original site. Fee is very reasonable and everyone working there was very friendly and helpful. The museum gave you a good background before you walked out side to the village. We were there about an hour and half maybe two. Little hard to find, it is in an industrial area but you go down a road following the river and you end up in the beautiful open area. GPS was a great help this time.
They had a lot of activities going on for children which was fun to watch also. I would go back again if I am ever in Dayton.
They had a lot of activities going on for children which was fun to watch also. I would go back again if I am ever in Dayton.
Written August 22, 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Heather C
Indianapolis, IN38 contributions
Feb 2015 • Solo
A fascinating place to spend a couple of hours. Walk back in time through the rebuilt village and take a look at the exhibits inside. If you can, plan your visit around one of the annual Pow Wows, the Flute and Art Festival, or a drum circle and make it a day.
Written March 26, 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
need2trvl
Miamisburg, OH846 contributions
Aug 2023 • Couples
Sunwatch does offer senior discount and another $0.50 off if you are a AAA member our tickets was $ 5.50 each. We were there for about an hour. It was interesting. The must do is to read exhibits or watch the video prior to walking outside to the site. Everything is self-tour. This is purely exhibits, not a site with people living there. Got that as a question afterwards. Sunwatch does have 1 Pow Wow a year. Lots of parking. Small gift shop. No food or drinks available. Walking outside is on gravel .
Written August 18, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
EdsueDayton
Dayton, Ohio3 contributions
Jul 2014
I found it to be very interesting. For years, this was just a few acres of farmland. Then they began finding things. This not the Indian Village you see in the movies. These were ancient Indians. Long before the Europeans came to America. As Shultes, of Hogan's Heros would say, " Very Interesting"
Written January 15, 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Karma45387
Yellow Springs49 contributions
Jul 2014 • Friends
Although interesting, the park is not well suited for smaller kids or those who are "touchy feely". The site is very educational and they have done a wonderful job with restoration. It's also clear that their work is ongoing. There are very few interpretive signs, there are no guides or volunteers to show you around. The building is modern inside and out but the pathways are not suitable for strollers due to the mud and/or loose mulch. The gift shop is small and a mis-mosh of items from all the area gift shops. Take your own food. Out the back door is a serious missed opportunity to have picnic tables and a place to eat while overlooking the site. Someone please donate a ton of cash because it really is a beautiful area to visit.
Written December 12, 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Historiana
NJ227 contributions
Aug 2014 • Couples
This was really a wonderful surprise. There is a great 12 minute film, followed by a well presented exhibit, and the ability to walk all over the site. The gentlemen who welcomed us was very knowledgeable and enthusiastic. Really interesting to see such a unique site that had survived undisturbed.
Written August 23, 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Becky D
Springfield, OH401 contributions
Jun 2014 • Family
Love this park! The pow wow is always interesting. Vendors good too. Not enough food booths - only 2. The walking taco was good, and prepared as we waited, but the wait was long.
Written August 17, 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Hoosiergadabout
Indiana410 contributions
Jun 2014 • Solo
SunWatch Indian Village/Archaeological Park could disappoint some visitors. The reason being is that the site, a National Historic Landmark on the National Register of Historic Places, is a work in progress dependent on funding and the procedural discipline of fieldwork archaeology. Its interpretive presentation of the 13th-15th C.E. Fort Ancient Indian village and culture is far from complete. However, the effort to interpret this society during its apex is quite exemplary for such a small facility.
Getting to the site is not that difficult as it’s not that far from downtown Dayton. Once on the entrance road, the drive is a bucolic river-edge transit through woods and fields until one reaches the parking lot adjacent to the educational center building
Visitors are engaged immediately on the walk-up to the center. A sequence of low ground-level graphic signs provide a time line commentary on the evolution of the Native Peoples. The SunWatch building where the tours of the village begin is divided into three principal sections: a movie theater showing a 12 minute video on the historic development and reconstruction of the site, the society of people which inhabited the site; a well-stocked gift shop with an interesting variety of items to purchase; and an exhibition hall.
The film was very informative and the inclusion of vintage photos and drawings while a bit grainy did tend to suggest authenticity rather than slick Hollywood artifice. The layout of the exhibits area at the far end of the center was well arranged for traffic flow and featured some quite acceptable life-size figures portraying the ancient peoples. There was a good balance of information and visuals in the exhibition hall to maintain a high level of browser interest. A door in the center section of the facility led out onto a deck from which one could view the village in a more panoramic manner under the cover of shade.
A ramp walkway, an extension of the deck, curved downwards into the interior of the village site and evolved into a bark mulch path connecting the several different reconstructed village “houses”, gardens, and center site poles whose theorized solar and lunar alignments were critical to planting cycles. All the village’s houses are open for close-up viewing and depict various stages of architectural construction and materials used for the walls and roof. From the movie one learned that the composition of the material used to cover and seal the walls was called “daub”. In all likelihood, that texturing process at work in 14th century America gave rise to the action verb in today’s parlance, namely, to “daub” something or at something.
The SunWatch village was a fortified village as evidenced by the interpretative material and the stockade fencing enclosing a portion of today’s reconstructed village. The fortified fencing was constructed of tree branches and limbs which once encircled the village. Enemies attempting to break through the wall would conceivably have had a formidable time doing so.
My visit was a self-guided ramble in the heat of the mid-day sun. Fair-skinned visitors should consider wearing a hat.
This site seems destined to be improved over time. It’s not a completed interpretative project and visitors who could be disappointed by this fact will hopefully understand that the village is not meant to be a native people’s Williamsburg. Life was obviously tough and demanding at that period in our nation’s history among this segment of native Americans. SunWatch’s effort to authentically portray that reality is to be commended.
Getting to the site is not that difficult as it’s not that far from downtown Dayton. Once on the entrance road, the drive is a bucolic river-edge transit through woods and fields until one reaches the parking lot adjacent to the educational center building
Visitors are engaged immediately on the walk-up to the center. A sequence of low ground-level graphic signs provide a time line commentary on the evolution of the Native Peoples. The SunWatch building where the tours of the village begin is divided into three principal sections: a movie theater showing a 12 minute video on the historic development and reconstruction of the site, the society of people which inhabited the site; a well-stocked gift shop with an interesting variety of items to purchase; and an exhibition hall.
The film was very informative and the inclusion of vintage photos and drawings while a bit grainy did tend to suggest authenticity rather than slick Hollywood artifice. The layout of the exhibits area at the far end of the center was well arranged for traffic flow and featured some quite acceptable life-size figures portraying the ancient peoples. There was a good balance of information and visuals in the exhibition hall to maintain a high level of browser interest. A door in the center section of the facility led out onto a deck from which one could view the village in a more panoramic manner under the cover of shade.
A ramp walkway, an extension of the deck, curved downwards into the interior of the village site and evolved into a bark mulch path connecting the several different reconstructed village “houses”, gardens, and center site poles whose theorized solar and lunar alignments were critical to planting cycles. All the village’s houses are open for close-up viewing and depict various stages of architectural construction and materials used for the walls and roof. From the movie one learned that the composition of the material used to cover and seal the walls was called “daub”. In all likelihood, that texturing process at work in 14th century America gave rise to the action verb in today’s parlance, namely, to “daub” something or at something.
The SunWatch village was a fortified village as evidenced by the interpretative material and the stockade fencing enclosing a portion of today’s reconstructed village. The fortified fencing was constructed of tree branches and limbs which once encircled the village. Enemies attempting to break through the wall would conceivably have had a formidable time doing so.
My visit was a self-guided ramble in the heat of the mid-day sun. Fair-skinned visitors should consider wearing a hat.
This site seems destined to be improved over time. It’s not a completed interpretative project and visitors who could be disappointed by this fact will hopefully understand that the village is not meant to be a native people’s Williamsburg. Life was obviously tough and demanding at that period in our nation’s history among this segment of native Americans. SunWatch’s effort to authentically portray that reality is to be commended.
Written June 29, 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
SavantIII_11
Centerville, OH103,903 contributions
Oct 2015 • Couples
Tis a fine day to visit SunWatch.
We recall the "old days" when news of this discovery would not disclose the actual location.
The location is central to the Greater Dayton Metropolitan area. We recommend the SunWatch tour to simply wandering around.
A true Dayton treasure,and we recommend a visit to our visiting family and friends.
We recall the "old days" when news of this discovery would not disclose the actual location.
The location is central to the Greater Dayton Metropolitan area. We recommend the SunWatch tour to simply wandering around.
A true Dayton treasure,and we recommend a visit to our visiting family and friends.
Written November 1, 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
KathyTeski
Loveland, OH103 contributions
Is this dog-friendly?
Wanderlust777
Lutherville, MD1,107 contributions
Probably not. I would definitely call ahead before bringing a dog.
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