The last 2 entries to the blog, were about impressive old
cities and had pictures of lots of houses. They were beautiful. But we have
also been surrounded by beauty and nature, at the last 2 campgrounds we stayed
at.
The quality of the campgrounds we have stayed at is to
some extent like playing the lottery. We have been paying between $25 and $60
(DKK 160-390) per night. There is not always a correlation (sammenhæng) between
price and quality. Sometimes a big paved (asfalteret) parking lot for $45. Sometimes a crammed campground in the middle of town for $35. Our current campground is $25 – and probably one of the best
we have stayed at!!
Camp Lake Jasper, in Hardeeville (near Savannah), was
part of a larger park area, built around 5 small lakes. Here are a couple of
pictures taken there.
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| We are in alligator country. Didn't see any yet ☹. |
Now (Nov. 30-Dec. 4), we are staying at another lake park area, this time at Arrowhead Park on Lake Tobesofkee, Macon, Georgia. It is a quiet, peaceful campground, right on the lake.
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| Lake seen from our campsite |
When we got here Thursday, there were only 3 other
campers (room for 56). A few more have come in for the weekend, but it is still
very quiet and peaceful. We are enjoying the peace and nature. The squirrels
are busy, getting ready for winter. We have seen lots of birds - geese, ducks,
woodpeckers, etc. There was a large crane in a tree right outside yesterday.
And we think we heard an owl last night.
The area is also great for hiking. I have been on a
couple of nice walks. We have decided to rest up for a couple of days, because
after our trip to Atlanta on Sunday, we are going to race south, so we can
finish eastern and southern Florida, before we fly home on Dec. 13. This is the
perfect place to be for R & R (hvile og afslapning).
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| Spot crane (trane) in tree top |
We did find one thing in the Macon area, that we wanted
to see.
Ocmulgee National Monument is a national park, that centers
around the native people, who have lived in the area for 17,000 years; and
especially a tribe called the Mississippians. They lived in the area from
around 900-1100 AD. They were a skillful farming people, distinguished from
other tribes, by the earth mounds they built. Some of these still exist today, making the
place very worth a visit.
The most exciting mound, is the earth lodge. It has been reconstructed on the outside, but the clay floor inside is the original one – made around 1000 AD.
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| Model of how the lodge may have been used |
No one knows for sure, what this lodge was used for, but
the setup, with 3 seats in the front and center, and 47 more around the edges,
suggest that it has been used as a meeting place for the leaders of the tribe. Most likely the "parliament" for the tribe.
Other mounds were used for religious ceremonies and
burials. The leader of the tribe may have lived on the largest mound.
There are also remains from a trading post, built by the white settlers in the 1690’s. This was after the fall of the Mississippians. The tribe living here at that time was the Creek. They were very willing to trade for things like firearms, cloth, metalwork and beads. Unfortunately, the white men brought with them disease, and political and trade disputes. This changed the Indian way of life forever, and eventually led to them being displaced (flyttet) to Oklahoma on “the Trail of Tears” (mid 1800’s).
The railroad came through Ocmulgee in the 1870’s. Some of the mounds were damaged or destroyed in the process. Luckily the national park service began protecting the site, after archeologists discovered it in the 1930’s.
I am very happy that we got this insight into the Native American
way of life. Yet another history lesson.
Written by Mary
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