#12 Jumpin' Across Georgia

Staying below the weather line and looking for warmth had become our mantra as we worked our way toward another one of those little known National places – Ocmulgee (Oak-mull-ghee) National Monument. As we drove south down Highway 23 toward Macon and the Monument we noticed a small sign off to our left for “The Whistle Stop Cafe.” Nah! Couldn’t be, we thought, but maybe it is; so let’s go see. We did a u-turn and drove a short distance eastward to the tiny town of Juliette, GA. Right there in the middle of the whole one block long downtown hub, stood the Café. It was a little different than we remembered from the movie but there were the railroad tracks, the BBQ Pit, the bank building and certainly the feel of the place. When we went into the Café to have, of course, fried green tomatoes, the place was packed even on a Tuesday afternoon! Great funky interior décor playing up the whole movie theme and we found out the building was the general store in the movie. It was so fun and the tomatoes were absolutely delicious!













The name Ocmulgee is Muscogee or Creek Indian for bubbling waters and this site sits on the banks of the Ocmulgee River in central GA south of Macon. It stands as a memorial to the antiquity of people in North America. From Ice Age big game hunters to the mysterious mound builders and on into the Great Depression, the site preserves the12,000 year history of human life in the southeastern US. Between 900 and 1200 a society of skilled farmers known as Mississippians inhabited this rich area growing crops such as corn, squash and beans as well as building a large town. Remnants of their efforts include temple, funeral and royal housing mounds as well as trenches, terraces and a unique Earthlodge. Archeological digs in the 1930’s unearthed 1.5 million artifacts leading scientists to determine the timeline of occupancy. The Visitors Center and Museum was built in the 1930’s and houses an extensive museum of these artifacts.





We enjoyed the informative film and the exhibits before we hiked out to the village site and the mounds. The oldest artifact is a broken Clovis point spear head from about 10,000 years ago, evidence of the earliest occupation of the area by proto-Indian big game hunters. Pottery was abundant at this site and revealed much about the early residents and the succeeding societies. Some of the earliest residents, the Woodland Indians, decorated their pots with complicated pressed designs.





Later Mississippians made very plain utilitarian pottery and household wares but expressed their artistic efforts by creating effigies.






Later cultures, known as the Lamar people, combined these earlier pottery shapes and designs into a distinctive style.









The Mississippians were adept at copper smelting and made remarkable accessories for their chiefs and priests such as headdresses, amulets and breastplates.




After far too little time in the museum we hiked out to the village site to the restored Earthlodge. Destroyed by fire about 1,000 years ago it was preserved enough to allow scientists to reconstruct it. The clay floor is the original and is an archeological treasure nearly 42 feet in diameter with a clay platform in the shape of a large bird opposite the entrance. There are three seats on the platform, perhaps for the Chief and two priests or counselors and 47 seats around the wall with a fire pit in the center of the lodge. Little is known about the use of the lodge as it may have been a winter temple or a year-round council house. Suffice it to say that as you enter, walk down the entrance hall and stand in the grand chamber, you feel the weight of the giant logs and the depth of the earthen cover. You feel yourself transported into another time and space, away from the noise of the modern world and into the silence of the sacred.







Cokie hiked over to the site of the largest mound, the Great Temple Mound, while I drove the Pod around the Park road to the nearest parking lot. It took me an extra minute or two because I had to convince our precious vehicle that she really could navigate the seemingly impossible tunnel I encountered! Thank goodness the head room measurement was off by a foot or more.



The Great Temple Mound, largest of the Mississippian mounds on the Macon Plateau, rises some 55 feet high and once contained a sloping staircase up one side reminiscent of the pyramids of Mexico and Central America. Relatively little is known about these mounds except that they were topped by rectangular wooden structures which were probably used for important religious ceremonies. When you walk on these large man-made structures you are struck by the fact that they were built basketful by individual basketful of hand dug dirt!



There was much more at this site to explore but being ever watchful of the weather we learned that we actually had about one day of sunshine and then a huge storm with thunder bumpers was on its way. We headed for high ground near Perry in a place called Elko and just hunkered down for a few days to wait out the storm. Again we are so grateful for our little cocoon of a vehicle with all of its conveniences. We emerged from the soaking none the worst for wear and began our trek westward toward Alabama. We are constantly surprised and delighted by the wealth of architectural beauty our rural environs provide such as county courthouses or local historical banks, granges or the like. Eatonton was a perfect example.



Now if someone had told us that we would be visiting the hometown of the 39th President, Jimmy Carter, we would probably have gawhaffawed! Well, actually it was on our way as we headed for a Corp of Engineers CG on Lake Eufaula in Alabama. Once we learned it is a National Historic Site run by the National Parks Service we knew we just had to stop and poke around so that we could add it to our list of over 100 National Sites we have visited so far! Plains, Georgia was actually a very sweet experience for us. The town has changed little since 1975 when Jimmy Carter began his run for the Presidency. Back then the population was 653 and now it has exploded to 713! The rural southern culture of Plains revolves around farming, church, family and school, all important influences in the life of the man who was the first southerner elected President since the Civil War. Peanuts are the lifeblood of this area and they really are sweet and good, especially if they are fried, boiled, and brittled or put in ice cream! Yup, we tried them all.






The NPS Visitor Center is located in the restored Plains High School where both Jimmy and Rosalynn attended. This is one of those wonderful wooden and brick beauties with tongue and groove floors and ceilings plus great moldings and memories everywhere. You sense the lives that passed up and down its hallways and you appreciate the work that was done by mostly volunteers to restore it to its original grace after it had been vacant for years. President Carter said that he was influenced the most by two teachers, Miss Julia Coleman and Y.T. Sheffield, who taught him the arts and fostered the idea that anyone could look to a larger stage in the world and “…even become President of the United States.”







Jimmy Carter’s Church and his boyhood farm home, down the road, were equally important in his development. Even to this day he is prominent in his church and teaches Sunday school often.


We walked about this sweet town and just soaked up its flavor. (Okay, we ate some of it too!) We did not catch a glimpse of the Carters, who still live here, but we enjoyed the ambience – including Brother Billy’s old Gas Station and the headquarters of the Presidential campaign housed in the restored train depot.



We popped across the border into Alabama and settled into our campsite for the evening having enjoyed a sunny, warmer day full of Georgia gentleness.