We are always eager to welcome school groups to our park and offer a variety of options to make your day enjoyable – and of course educational! Much of the park is self guided. We have over five miles of trails that take you to prehistoric structures and through three different natural habitats. You can take whichever trails suit your educational aims – whether your students are studying biology or history. The mounds are spread out and you may not want to walk to all of them. If that’s the case we encourage everyone to stop by the Earth lodge, which is only a short walk from the Visitor Center.

The Earth Lodge is a reconstructed council chamber or social meeting place. It was a place of both spiritual and political significance. The reconstructed walls and roof help to protect the original floor which is about 1000 years old. Earth Lodges help us to understand the politics, problem solving methods and spiritual ideas of the socities of the past. Visitors get to enter and experience this special building of the Mississippian culture.

 The Great Temple Mound is situated about one half mile from the Visitor Center.  The path takes you over a rail road cut and past the site of the early English trading post. Once at the Great Temple Mound you can take your class to the top and get a spectacular view of the city of Macon and Ocmulgee National Monument.

Our new boardwalk allows you to experience and learn about wetlands habitats. Just a short distance from the Great Temple Mound this boardwalk provides opportunities to see birds and plants of the emergent wetlands. 

The Visitor Center contains two rooms of artifacts found during excavations on site. The first exhibition in the rotunda displays artifacts that cover the 12,000 years of human habitation here at the park. The back room contains artifacts that deal more specifically with the group of people who used the mounds 1000 years ago (we call them the Mississippians). At any time during your visit we can show your class a 17 minute orientation video. We can only seat about fifty students in the theater, so if your group is larger, we suggest splitting them up. While one group watches the film the other can tour the museum.

If you’re interested in something more tailored to your course aims, we do offer education programs for children eight years and older. A ranger will be more than happy to share his or her knowledge of everything from music and games of the ancient inhabitants to the natural resources available at Ocmulgee. If you have a specific theme you want addressed, be sure to request that when you call to schedule your visit. And if you don’t mind the children getting dirty we can make clay available so the children can make pottery, using traditional techniques they’ve learned that day. The cost is $7.50 (plus tax) for 25 pounds of clay, which can accommodate about thirty children.

We have three traveling trunks that teachers can borrow to use in their classroom for interactive guided learning activities. These trunks contain recreated artifacts, pottery, period clothing, tools, toys and musical instruments. By interacting and learning through hands on activities your students can investigate multicultural significance of every day items. This helps connect students with people of the past through mutual understanding. The three trunks focus on Native American Culture, Colonial period culture and Pottery of the Native Peoples.

If your aim is a more interactive experience, our Discovery Lab can be made available to you. The lab provides a classroom environment with a twist, offering hands-on activities pertaining to early history, ancient life, archaeology and more. Children can role play in recreated environments, make music with ancient-style instruments, examine natural resources on the microscopic level – whatever your focus may be. We do require the teacher in charge to attend a training session in order to gain the most out of the Discovery Lab.

Whether you plan on a self-guided day at Ocmulgee or want a ranger-led education program please call us at 478-752-8257 and tell the ranger what you need. If you want an educational program we ask that you call at least two weeks in advance. If you have any more questions do not hesitate to ask.

Steve Rudolph

Park Ranger/Education Coordinator