Column: Plenty to learn from Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park this weekend

The Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park’s annual Ocmulgee Indigenous Celebration is just over two months away — it’s Sept. 16-17 — so why not get ready by learning as much as you can about the park and the people who called Middle Georgia home going back thousands of years?

One good way is to take advantage of the ongoing programs at the park.

Here are a couple of things this weekend:

— Ranger Talks are regular presentations by park rangers and there’s a great one today, Friday, for learning about the folks who inhabited our area even before the Mississippians built mounds here 1,000 years ago. Did you know four prehistoric cultures lived in the Macon Plateau?

Or who their descendants are today and how their stories still shape the park? Find out in the 30-minute presentation. It’s free and starts at 1 p.m.

Couldn’t make it today? Don’t worry, you can catch it again Sunday at 2 p.m. and will be repeated in days ahead. Check the park’s website.

— On Saturday, take a guided tour into the Earth Lodge mound at 11 a.m. You’ll start at the park visitor center then go the short distance to the lodge to learn about the mound-building culture and see for yourself the millennia-old clay floor inside the council chamber.

Park officials say to keep in mind the 1/8 mile, paved walk to the lodge includes a decline and incline which a few may find difficult and that the Earth Lodge interior is accessed through a 20-foot-long tunnel that taller guests may need to stoop a bit to get through and that is not wheelchair or stroller accessible. But it is a well-worth-it, fascinating experience.

Fortunately, the tours are also repeated every Saturday through July.

— Again Saturday, the park’s Native American Games demonstration is at 2 p.m. for 30 minutes. The fun, active event allows kids to learn about the games Mississippians played here in years past. It’s in the green space next to the visitor center parking lot. Native American Games is also set for July 16 at 2 p.m.

There’s much more still on the calendar this month so check the par website for more, including Art in the Park, kid’s pottery programs, Lunch with a Ranger and more that are both fun and informative, not to mention valuable to know and understand.

“We offer all sorts of programs most weekends and during the week to help our guests better understand who lived here throughout history and whose descendants are still here today, such as those of the Muskogean cultures and of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation,” said Carla Beasley, the park’s superintendent. “We have something for young and old and great things for families where kids get to do things like make pinch pots from clay.

“And it’s not only just our park rangers presenting, we have guests come regularly to demonstrate their special crafts from making cornhusk dolls to carving canoes from logs. Plus, it’s always worth it just come enjoy this beautiful park and do your own self-guided tour taking in the scenery and wayside exhibits that provide a lot of information.”

The park website is at nps.gov. Have a look also at the Ocmulgee Mounds Association’s site at ocmulgeemounds.org, that’s the local nonprofit organization that partners with the park to provide support for educational programs, events and exhibits as well as volunteers and support for activities like the Indigenous Celebration, lantern tours and operation of the park gift shop.

Take note of the Macon Film Guild’s showings this month at the Douglass Theatre. It starts with Sunday’s presentation of “You Hurt My Feelings” at 2-5 p.m. and then a repeat Macon showing on July 18 of the new Little Richard documentary, “Little Richard: I Am Everything.”

“You Hurt My Feelings” stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus of TV’s “Seinfeld” fame who portrays a popular writer whose world and marriage are rocked when she overhears her husband disparaging her latest work. It’s a pointedly funny comedy-drama written and directed by Nicole Holofcener.

Macon’s premier showing of “Little Richard: I Am Everything,” sold out with people turned away at the door so the Film Guild is offering a great second chance to see it and all its interviews, recollections and performances revealing Richard Penniman’s complicated inner world with all the star’s switchbacks and contradictions between God, sex and rock ‘n’ roll.

Don’t forget it’s First Friday July with new and well-known events happening at galleries, venues, restaurants and downtown shops.

Contact writer Michael W. Pannell at mwpannell@gmail.com.