In 1916, the National Park Service was established to preserve natural resources and sites of cultural significance to the American people. This year the country is celebrating the 100th anniversary of its establishment. Many of the sites entrusted to the National Park Service are cultural sites related to Native American history and how the first peoples shaped our nation.
Try celebrating this year’s National Park centennial by taking your group to see one of the many Native American Heritage Sites scattered across the country. Travelers can explore prehistoric ruins from the Ice Age and a time before European explorers like Columbus and De Soto landed in the New World, or see sites that played a role in shaping the Indian policies of the 1800s. You can even experience the stunning views of the Milky Way from a protected dark-sky area and see it the same way it looked in a time before skyscrapers and cellphones.
Here are five suggestions to get you started.
Ocmulgee National Monument
Macon, Georgia
Macon, Georgia, is one of the oldest cities in North America: The site of Ocmulgee National Monument, located in Macon, has been continuously inhabited since the Ice Age. Since people have lived at the site for more than 12,000 years, there are many cultures tied to the location. Two of the most recognizable are the Mississippian Mound-Builders, the ancestors of many of the tribes we recognize today, and more recently, the Muscogee Creek.
The monument is home to two ruins not found anywhere else in North America. The first is a spiral mound built in the late Mississippian period that reaches about 40 feet high at its center. The other is the only original earth lodge floor. Other Mississippian earth lodges have been found, but the sloped ceremonial floors were in such poor condition that they were not excavated by archaeologists. At Ocmulgee, the earth lodge floor is in pristine condition and has been fully excavated.
Many groups also come to Ocmulgee to enjoy more than six miles of hiking trails that span the park. One of the most popular trails is the path that takes guests to the top of the Great Temple Mound. From the top of the mound, groups can look out in all directions to see the wetlands, forests and floodplains around the Ocmulgee River and the Piedmont Plateau.
Groups visiting the site can also enjoy an extensive collection of artifacts, including rare Ice Age relics. Ocmulgee is home to one of the largest Native American museum collections in the National Park Service.
Hovenweep National Monument
Utah and Colorado
Hovenweep National Monument spans the southern section of the border between Colorado and Utah. The park is known for the six Ancestral Puebloan villages scattered across 20 miles of mesa, canyons and desert. The Ancestral Puebloans, long referred to as the Anasazi people, were prehistoric farmers who lived in what we now call the Four Corners region.
Most of the stone structures at the site were built between 800 and 900 years ago. The main group of structures is made up of 11 stone buildings that can be reached by a trail loop near the visitors center. The most popular sites are the Square Tower and Hovenweep Castle, both located along the main trail. Hovenweep National Monument is unique partly because all the structures were built at the heads of small canyons near water sources, whereas structures at similar Ancestral Puebloan sites, like Mesa Verde in Colorado, were built into alcoves in the rock.
Hovenweep also gives guests the rare opportunity to view the night sky without light pollution. In 2014, Hovenweep was designated an International Dark Sky Park, and it is the first such park to span more than one state. Programs are often hosted at the new or full moon, and on the park’s constellation tour, guests are able to see and learn about the night sky from park rangers.
