Visitors to the southeastern Georgian town of Macon could easily mistake the massive, grass-covered mounds right outside the city for natural hills, albeit strangely shaped with flat tops. However, in reality, these “hills” are significant monuments to indigenous memory. Surrounded by swaths of trees on the eastern part of town, the Ocmulgee Mounds is actually a prehistoric indigenous site that reflects the lives, culture, and customs of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. Although it’s not America’s “largest prehistoric earthen mound” in Illinois, the site encompasses about 8 miles of walking trails, half a dozen historic mounds, and a number of other colonial heritage areas across 173 acres. The Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park welcomes visitors to engage with the history of these regionally and culturally important lands.
The Ocmulgee Mounds are located around 2.5 miles outside of downtown Macon, Georgia, a town incidentally known as one of the best Halloween destinations in America, given its deeply historic nature. Only a stone’s throw from other incredibly important monuments to the nation’s history, like the Tubman Museum and Fort Hawkins, the park most famously houses a series of flattened pyramids or hills. These earthen works were constructed for a number of cultural reasons, including serving as funerary sites, providing a large lodge for tribal council meetings, or even housing community leaders. Today, visitors to the national park can hike among these mounds, climb the tallest of the vistas, and learn of the indigenous and colonial history of these Georgian lands.
Everything you need to know about visiting Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park
Visitors can see these monumental mounds from Macon itself — they rise up from the earth atop the Macon Plateau, and historically, the indigenous community in this part of Georgia utilized the land for generations. With its proximity to town, it’s only a 10-minute drive to visit these structures. The national park is open daily from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., while the visitor center and the Earth Lodge — the mound you can actually walk inside — open at 9:00 a.m. every day. The visitor center, a distinctive mid-century building located right off the main parking lot operated by the Ocmulgee Mounds Association, serves as a small gallery with an orientation film (upon request), exhibited artifacts, and a gift shop.
The park is a popular spot for hikers, and walking through its entirety, which includes climbing the Great Temple Mound, takes about three hours or more if you want to stop and explore places along the way. It covers a nearly 6-mile loop around the park’s most prominent sites, including an ancient trading post, earthen works dating to the Civil War, and a 19th-century plantation house, along with the other mounds. With the exception of climbing up the Great Temple Mound, most of the terrain in the park is relatively flat.
Parking is available throughout the national park, which makes it easy to explore the mounds by car if hiking isn’t your preferred method of exploration. Note that you may have to park and walk a short distance for some of the mounds, and you’ll likely miss out on interior sites, like the Civil War earthen works, if traveling by car. However, driving is an easy way to enjoy the Ocmulgee Mounds.
How to see history come to life at the Ocmulgee Mounds
