Named for two different earthworks within its bounds — the Williamson Mound and the Pollock Works — the park straddles Massies Creek as it flows through a small canyon.

For the first 2 miles (3.2 km) below the confluence of the forks, the creek utilizes a shallow but sheer canyon that reaches as deep as 40 feet (12 m) below the surface of the surrounding terrain.

[2]: 537  By the early twentieth century, local residents had known the vicinity of the "Cliffs" as a picnicking ground for the past hundred years, and calls were being made for its conversion into a park.

[5] Hiking trails, picnic grounds, a log cabin, Cedar Cliff Falls, and the ancient earthworks are among the attractions within the park, which lies along U.S. Route 42.

Due to its comparatively inaccessible location, Squier and Davis proposed in their Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley that the site was a fortification at which a simple palisade could render the promontory impregnable.

[8] Scientific excavations under a Wright State University archaeologist have demonstrated that the Pollock Works were built by the Hopewell in a five-stage process that started in the first century after Christ.

It appears that Squier and Davis correctly ascertained the defensive capabilities of the site; at some point in its history, a palisade stretched across the isthmus, although it was destroyed by fire and later buried by a fresh layer of earth.