Across the Ocmulgee River, well-signed from I-16 exit 4, two miles east of Macon along the Emory Highway (US-80), the settlement now preserved as the Ocmulgee National Monument was a center of pre-conquest Native American culture. By the time the first colonists arrived, it had been inhabited for over 800 years, with remains dating from ad 900.
From the small, WPA-era visitors center (daily; free; 478/752-8257), where you can watch a short film and admire pieces of elaborate pottery found on the site, a short trail leads you to a restored earth lodge (complete with thinly disguised air-conditioning ducts!), where you walk through a narrow tunnel to the center of the circular, kiva-like interior. The trail continues past the excavated remains of a Creek Indian trading post, then crosses a set of railroad tracks before climbing a 45-foot-high “Great Temple Mound,” where you can see downtown Macon across the rumbling I-16 freeway—2,000 years of “culture” in one very pleasant half-mile walk.
