Ocmulgee National Monument preserves traces of over ten millennia of native Southeastern culture, including Mississippian mounds. It is located just east of Macon, Georgia.
Ocmulgee is a memorial to the antiquity of people in Southeastern North America. From Ice Age hunters to the Creek Indians of historic times, there is evidence of at least 10,000 years of human habitation. Between 900-1150, an elite society supported by skillful farmers lived on this site near the Ocmulgee River. They constructed a town of rectangular wooden buildings, huge pyramidal temple mounds, and at least one burial mound. Circular earthlodges served as places to conduct meetings and ceremonies.
After this large early ceremonial center declined, other villages were built in the area by the later Mississippian "Lamar" Culture. These were the people encountered by SpaniardHernando de Soto in 1540. During historic times, the great mounds continued to evoke awe and admiration. NaturalistWilliam Bartram journeyed through Ocmulgee in the 1770s and described the "wonderful remains of the power and grandeur of the ancients in this part of America." In the early 1900s, the area was put into a large renovation, and the site was made into its present manisfestation.
The park has 5-1/2 miles (9 km) of walking trails. Near the visitor center is a reconstructed thousand-year-old ceremonial earthlodge. Visitors can reach the Great Temple Mound via a half mile walk or the park road. Other features in the park include a burial mound, temple mounds, prehistoric trenches, and the site of a colonial British trading post.
The main section of Ocmulgee National Monument is accessible from U.S. Route 80, off of Interstate 16 (which passes through southwest edge of the memorial). It is open daily except Christmas Day and New Year's Day. Lamar Mounds is an isolated unit of the monument, located in the swamps about 3 miles (5 km) south of Macon. The Lamar Unit is open on a limited basis.
