Ocmulgee Mounds: 12,000 Years of History, Stolen Bones & Georgia's Next National Park

Susan and Monica head to Ocmulgee Mounds National Historic Park just outside Macon, Georgia — a site with evidence of continuous human habitation for 12,000 to 17,000 years. We cover the Great Temple Mound (55 feet high, built basket by basket by South Appalachian Mississippian laborers), the massive 1930s archaeological excavation, and the uncomfortable truth behind it: the human remains that were disinterred and are still being repatriated to the Muscogee (Creek) Nation nearly 100 years later. We also get into the bigger questions this place raises — who owns a mound if it's on your land, whether Ocmulgee deserves to become the 64th official U.S. National Park (it's currently in subcommittee for 2026), and why letting the Muscogee Nation frame their own story matters. Plus: scorpions, sock etiquette, and Monica's Acoma Pueblo shirt.

🥾 Two Chicks with Hiking Sticks explores the intersections of culture, history, and the natural world through National Park Service sites and the local places around them.

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📍 Ocmulgee Mounds National Historic Park, Macon, GA

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