Ocmulgee - Mysterious ancient city in the Georgia woods

Great Temple Mound - Ocmulgee National Monument, Georgia

We know our lands have now become more valuable. The white people think we do not know their value; but we know that the land is everlasting, and the few goods we receive for it are soon worn out and gone.”

Canassatego – Mingo – Six Nations Chief (1700′s)

While on a drive from Atlanta, Georgia to Jacksonville, Florida I decided to make a pit stop and stretch the legs at a place with a funny name off the beaten path in Macon, Georgia. This place was called “Ocmulgee” which is an ancient Indian word meaning “Bubbling Water”. I didn't know what to expect when I parked my vehicle and walked up to the old southern looking visitors center and when I went inside, I was soon introduced to a world that I previously was ignorant of. I learned in short order that this site which is revered by the Muscogee or “Creek” Indians has been inhabited by man for over 17,000 years. I discovered that there were various ceremonial and burial mounds within the monument built by archaic peoples. The civilization that built the mounds is called the Southern Appalachian Mississippian culture. These people constructed the “Mounds” found at Ocmulgee from roughly 900-1200 A.D. The setting couldn't have been prettier on this April day with white puffball clouds and powder blue sky with striking green foliage – colors of all amplified by the bright Georgia sun. I soon discovered that there was a 1.7 mile walking trail and as I had been driving for awhile, I decided to stretch the legs for a few and check out the grounds. There are large stately southern trees along the path towards the first mound and I marveled at these massive trees as I walked towards the Ocmulgee “Earth Lodge” which was the first site I visited. This lodge is one of the oldest, largest and best preserved Native American Ceremonial Lodges in North America according to the National Park Service. I thought I was just going to see a pile of dirt but as I walked around the side of the lodge I noticed a timbered entryway that much resembled an old mine entrance in the old west – just much more organized, stout and presentable. I walked up this tunnel into the lodge interior and was very surprised to find a large room with a fire pit in the center, massive log timbers all around the walls and in the ceiling arranged in a spoke like fashion. The floor was of clay and it was constructed 1,000 years ago. There is a half profile of a large “Thunderbird” looking creature surrounded by 47 seats. The park service estimates that this structure was built around the year 1015. It has been largely reconstructed but much of the structure is original. I stood there in awe wondering what kind of ceremonies took place in this building and who the people were and what their lives were like. After admiring the workmanship of this lodge and pondering the past, I exited the lodge and continued on to the “Great Temple Mound”. This edifice is just what its name imply s, a large mound with steeply sloped sides with sharply engineered lines…………not at all just a “pile of dirt”. I learned that much engineering and skill went into the construction of these mounds of the Mississippian culture. The actual building of the mounds was done over 250 years as workers carved out dirt and clay using stone hoes, digging sticks and shell scoops to fill baskets with fill material. These heavy baskets were carried on the backs of the workers who built the levels of the mounds one back breaking dirt basket at a time to heights of up to 10 stories tall. There is evidence to suggest there may have been wooden structures on top of the mounds for various ceremonies. The inhabitants of the area used red clay to make figurines and pottery and they made smoking pipes out of stone in the form of human heads and the “Thunderbird" type creatures. They ate deer, squirrel, turkey and fish which they probably cooked in their lodges and they also gathered black berries, dewberries, chestnuts, hickory nuts and maple sap. They probably grew corn, squash and pumpkins…..grinding the corn into meal with stone mortar and pestle. Much of this knowledge was obtained through archaeological digs and analysis but that is about the limit of what is known about these people. What were their ways? Culture, beliefs, language, ceremonies etc? What did they enjoy and what did they fear? Were they a happy people? What was life like for the common inhabitant and the privileged ruling class? We will probably never know the answers to all of these questions but as I stood on top of the Great Temple Mound and looked across the outlines and mounds of the ancient settlement, now grown over with the greenest lush grass and bordered by tall hardwood forests……..these questions were on my mind. It is believed that Spanish Conquistador – Hernando De Soto may have visited this civilization in 1540. In his book “1491: New revelations on the Americas before Columbus” Charles C. Mann suggests that pigs brought by the De Soto expedition escaped and became feral. These pigs Mann stated could have carried diseases to which the inhabitants of Ocmulgee had no immunities to. This resulted in large numbers of deaths which lead to the collapse of social order and eventually the collapse of the Mississippian society. Whether this is true or not……..it is certainly an interesting and tragic theory. The story of the Muscogee or “Creek” Indian inhabitants of the Ocmulgee area is a sad and familiar one as the white men sought the Muscogee lands first for oil and then for fields in which to grow cotton. Treaty after treaty between the two groups were broken by the whites as they encroached upon the Creek Indians tribal lands until all they had left was a small parcel of land that included their sacred mounds at Ocmulgee. Tensions grew higher and war and general hostilities broke out that led in the end to the removal of all Creek Indians from their Macon Plateau homelands to the Oklahoma Indian Territory via the “Trail of Tears”. I imagine the once proud warriors and chiefs, the women and children who called Ocmulgee home, walking away with tears in their eyes, looking over their shoulders at their sacred, loved home lands as they were forced away. As we know, many of these people never made it to the Territories but instead perished along the Trail of Tears. An interesting geographical note is that eventually, these Muscogee Indians re established themselves in Oklahoma Territory and named their capital there “Okmulgee” in honor of their sacred mounds back on the Macon Plateau in Georgia. If you visit Ocmulgee today, don’t expect crowds of people. I practically had the place to myself and it was a bright sunny day. Kind of surreal walking along the William Bartram trail through the forest wondering what went through the minds of the Muscogee or those who came before them as they walked through the same forests. It is interesting to imagine a large flourishing culture here long before the time of Columbus. This blog is called American Tales & Trails and Ocmulgee is a reminder that not all of the Tales of America are centered on the United States or even European Settlers & Explorers. I think it is important to be constantly reminded that there were Americans here thousands of years before our Country was founded. I think it is important to learn as much as we can about these cultures and be respectful of these sites built long ago in America by those who came before.

For more information contact:

Ocmulgee National Monument
1207 Emery Highway
Macon,Georgia, 31217

(478) 752-8257