Ocmulgee National Monument - National Monument

National Monument

While the mounds had been studied by some travelers, professional excavation under the evolving techniques of archeology did not begin until the 1930s, under the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt during the Great Depression. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) sponsored large-scale archaeological digs at the site between 1933 and 1942. Workers excavated portions of eight mounds, finding an array of significant archeological artifacts that revealed a wide trading network and complex, sophisticated culture. On June 14, 1934, the park was authorized as a National Monument and formally established on December 23, 1936 under the National Park Service. As an historic unit of the Park Service, the National Monument was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966.

In the early 1990s, the National Park Service renovated its facilities at the park. In 1997, it designated the Ocmulgee National Monument as a Traditional Cultural Property, the first such site named east of the Mississippi River.

Ocmulgee's visitor center includes an archaeology museum. It displays artifacts and interprets the successive cultures of the prehistoric Native Americans who inhabited this site, as well as the historic Muscogee and diverse peoples of the colonial era.

The large park encompasses 702 acres (2.84 km2), with 5+1⁄₂ miles (8.9 km) of walking trails. Near the visitor center is a reconstructed ceremonial earthlodge, based on a 1,000-year-old structure excavated by archeologists. Visitors can reach the Great Temple Mound via a half-mile walk or the park road. Other surviving prehistoric features in the park include a burial mound, platform mounds, and earthwork trenches.

The historic site of the English colonial Ocumulgee trading post is also part of the park. The visitor center includes a short orientation film for the monument site and a gift shop.

The main section of Ocmulgee National Monument is accessible from U.S. Route 80, off Interstate 16 (which passes through the southwest edge of the monument land). It is open daily except Christmas Day and New Year's Day.

The Lamar Mounds and Village Site is an isolated unit of the monument, located in the swamps about 3 miles (4.8 km) south of Macon. The Lamar Site is open on a limited basis.