Georgia's Kolomoki Mounds State Park

My imagination has always been fired by thoughts of native American cultures before the advent of the Europeans. When I learned that Kolomoki Mounds was one of Georgia's largest prehistoric mound complexes, and that the state park was just a little over an hour south of Providence Canyon, I included it in my itinerary for the Florida trip. The park, like Providence Canyon, is easily accessible from US 27. A good map or GPS is advisable, as once you turn off US  27 just north of Blakely, the road snakes through a small town and farmland on the way to the park. I approached from the east, driving past Mounds A (or the Great Temple Mound) and D to the Visitor's Center.

Sign at Visitor's Center

Just as the sign says, the Visitor's Center incorporates a museum and an excavated portion of Mound E. The smell of earth was strong as I walked along the wooden walkways and sat on the bleachers to watch an informational film about the complex, the excavation process, and the burial it revealed. The scene below, left just as it was found by the excavators, other than the plastic copies of the bones, had a profound impact on me. More than a thousand years ago an important chief, seen in the lower left, died naturally, but the skeleton in the upper right was of a wife who was probably strangled and buried here so that the chief would not be alone in the afterlife. Do you suppose that was in the pre-nup?

The film explained that the mounds were constructed with clay that was carried to the sites by baskets. This burial mound (E) was dome shaped, about 11 feet high and constructed from soil and rocks with a final capping layer of red clay and rocks. Fifty-four complete pottery vessels were found by the excavators. Mound D, not displayed, contained 77 burials and a cache of ceremonial pottery, pieces of which are on display in the museum. Unique to Kolomoki is the effigy pottery in the shapes of various animals including deer, quail and owls. 

Mound A, or the Great Temple Mound

 The largest of Kolomoki’s nine mounds is Mound A, or the Great Temple Mound, which rises to a height of 57 feet. With a base larger than a football field, it has the distinction of being the Indian mound with the largest land base in Georgia. It originally would have been swept clear of any vegetation and covered with different colored clays. The final capping layer was made from red clay, although years before it was completely covered with white clay. Since there is no evidence of structures on its top, theories state that it may have served solely as a ceremonial platform or stage for public rituals. 

Interesting to me, since my husband is an amateur astronomer, is the idea that it may have served as a platform for astronomical observations, since pottery from this time period suggests such observations were being made and that accurate calendars were being produced. Astronomical alignments have been noted for several mounds at the Kolomoki site. Mounds A, D, and E which form the central axis of the site form an alignment with the sun at the spring equinox. Mounds F and D form an alignment with the sun at the summer solstice. Other mounds were thought to have been aligned in order to predict the arrival of these solar events.*

Although it looked daunting, I climbed up the stairs seen in the photo. By hanging onto the railing and not looking up, I was soon at the top, rewarded with this view. 

View the the west , including Mound D, from the top of Mound A

I was intrigued to learn that Kolomoki is one of the  native American sites that was abandoned well before the Europeans arrived. Without written records, the reason for this can only be a matter for speculation, but interesting ideas are presented in the reference material cited at the end of this post. I shot one more photo as I left the park, with my mind full of what I had seen and wishing that I could go back in time to observe this "highly complex culture that was rich in art, craft and tradition".

View of Mounds A and D from the road

*http://lostworlds.org/kolomoki_mounds/

Georgia's Providence Canyon State Park

When our children were small, my husband Paul and I took them on a trip from Montana to Arizona to visit friends. The Grand Canyon was on our route, so we stopped, spent the night in one of the lodges on the South Rim, and snapped a few photos of the canyon's awe inspiring vistas.

Fast forward to 2012: one of my travel tips is to be prepared. Keep a library of good travel books of places you are interested in. One of mine is the excellent, information packed Moon Handbooks: Georgia. Over the years, its pages have become well-read and bookmarked. Within those pages, I first learned about Georgia's Providence Canyon, remarkably similar to the Grand Canyon in aspect, if not in size and scope. Only about two hours from Warm Springs, a visit was definitely in my planned route for my automobile trip to Florida. Southeast of Columbus, it is easily accessible from US 27, one of Georgia's improved, but underused, four lane highways. At Lumpkin, I turned off onto Highway 39C, which is the road to the Florence Marina State Park. After driving about eight miles, half-way between Lumpkin and the Florence Marina, I saw the sign for Providence Canyon State Park.

Just like the state park website says, “Georgia's “Little Grand Canyon” is a testament to the power of man's influence on the land. Massive gullies as deep as 150 feet were caused simply by poor farming practices during the 1800s, yet today they make some of the prettiest photographs within the state. The rare Plumleaf Azalea grows only in this region and blooms during July and August when most azaleas have lost their color. The canyon soil's pink, orange, red and purple hues make a beautiful natural painting at this quiet park.” 

Not as majestic as the Grand Canyon, perhaps, but I found it to be awe inspiring in its own way. 

If you go: the Visitor Center is only open sporadically, but the picnic area with its bathroom facilities is open year round, and I found the best view by walking straight back to the edge of the canyon from the picnic grounds. 

From Murphy, NC, to Warm Springs, GA

In October of 2012 I took an automobile trip from my home near Murphy, NC, to Florida. Since Murphy is only a few miles from Georgia, the most direct route to Florida is through Georgia. 

And, I'd recently learned that I have a family connection to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, aka FDR. It seems that my first cousin three times removed, Roland Livingston Redmond, whose father Geraldyn was my great, great grandfather William Redmond, Jr's, youngest brother, married FDR's niece, Sara Delano. Since my curiosity was piqued by this discovery, I decided to visit some of the sites dedicated to FDR in Georgia's Presidential Pathways, one of the nine themed travel regions that the state has developed, on my way to Florida.

Leaving Murphy on one of those perfect fall days, 

Murphy, NC. October 2012

I took a detour through Blue Ridge, a northwestern Georgia mountain town about a half hour from Murphy. I was just in time to watch passengers preparing to board the Blue Ridge Scenic Railway for an excursion. Wish I'd had time to join them!

Blue Ridge, GA, October 2012

Continuing on, I took I-75 through Atlanta so that I could stop at my favorite grocery store, a destination in itself, Trader Joe's, near Piedmont Park. I exited I-75 onto I-85 South where I drove for about 35 miles to exit 41 onto US-27 South, a two lane road with little traffic that travels through a rural area.

Driving along US-27, I turned a corner and was pleasantly surprised to be confronted with this impressive courthouse. I had reached Greenville, the seat of Meriwether County. 

Meriwether County Courthouse

According to a historical sign on a corner across from the courthouse, "The Oakfuskee Path, main branch of the famous Upper Creek trading route from the Savannah River to the Creek Indians, passed here. Beginning at present Augusta, it led through Greenville via Warrenton, Eatonton, Griffin and Flat Shoals of the Flint River to Oakfuskee Town, an early Upper Creek center on the Tallapoosa River in Alabama. White traders began using this trail in the early 1700's. In time the route became a noted pioneer trace and eventually a leading stage road." 

Meriwether Historical Society

I didn't have time to visit, but I took this photo of the charming building across the street from the courthouse that houses the Meriwether Historical Society.

My destination, the town of Warm Springs, site of the therapeutic waters that helped President Franklin Delano Roosevelt overcome some of the effects of the polio that he contracted in 1921 at the age of 39 and his Little White House, was only about 20 minutes away. 

After checking into my hotel, the historic Warm Springs Hotel Bed and Breakfast Inn, I enjoyed a self-guided tour of the Little White House, coming away with a new respect for the man who had the courage to overcome the label of "cripple" that was meted out to polio sufferers, and whose disability seemed to add to the compassion he had for the common people. Compassion that was a factor in the programs that he put into place in the 1930's and 1940's that are still helping people today.

At the hotel, I purchased the movie, 'Warm Springs', shot in the area in 2005. After watching it, I understood why FDR spent about two-thirds of his personal fortune purchasing the property for what has become the Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute for Rehabilitation, and why the only home he ever owned was the Little White House.

If you've got a few minutes, please enjoy this slideshow of some of the photos I took while there. 





Postscript: Thanks to my friend Laura who sent me a link to this powerful photo documentary: Bearing Witness, which explores the extraordinary, wide-ranging legacy of images created by photographers who worked under the support of innovative New Deal programs created by the Roosevelt administration during the 1930s.