Controversy surfaced in the community as the property owner attempted to level the land in order to build a house.

As a result of public outrage, the community’s and Volusia Anthropological Society's[2] demand for the site to be classified as a historical monument, the Ormond Mound and surrounding area was purchased by the city.

As more bodies were deposited into the area and were covered with sand and other minerals, the earthwork took its "distinctive mounded appearance".

[3] A charnel house, a structure used to store bodies prior to burial, was located near the Ormond Mound.

A charnel house attendant, usually a high priest or a bonepicker,[2] would carefully remove the flesh from the bones as they decomposed.