Hiking route to all Ocmulgee mounds and historic sites (click to enlarge)

HIKE TO THE OCMULGEE MOUNDS AND HISTORIC SITES

Stop 1 : Dunlap Mound and Civil War Earthworks

Start your hike to see all of the sites at Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park by visiting Dunlap Mound and a Civil War earthwork. The trail that leads to these sites is not connected to the main trail area, but instead lies across the park road from the Visitor Center. To get there, walk out to the road and take a left. The trailhead, which begins as a gravel path, is only a hundred yards down and is located directly across from the employee parking entrance for the Visitor Center. It is not marked with any trail sign, but you can’t miss it. Both sites are a five minutes’ walk down the trail.

A trail leads to Ocmulgee’s Dunlap Mound and a Civil War earthwork

Had it not been identified as an Indian mound, Dunlap Mound wouldn’t even be mistaken for a common hill. Nearly all mounds at Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park were once much larger and flat on top. They appear today as rounded hills due to both erosion and modern day destruction. Dunlap Mound is quite a ways from the information panel that tells its history, but there is no need to walk any further towards it than the sign.

Dunlap Mound at Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park

The remains of a Civil War earthwork from the Battle of Walnut Creek are on the opposite side of the trail from Dunlap Mound. Earthwork is the term given to an earthen structure created for defense. These could be trenches or walls of a temporary fort. As with Dunlap Mound, erosion has whittled the defensive walls down to nothing more than small hills and are as likely to be mistaken for another Indian Mound as for a Civil War structure.

Remains of a Civil War earthwork at Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park

If you continue walking past the information sign for the earthwork to the far end of the fort, you will see a gap in the elevated mounds where you can enter into the fort without climbing on the walls. Once inside, you can see the sunken interior section where soldiers would have been stationed. The tall walls, now small hills, once formed a protective barrier around this area.

Sunken interior of the Ocmulgee Civil War earthwork where soldiers would have been stationed

When done with your visit, return back to the main road. The round trip walk and visit to the Dunlap Mound area takes about 20 minutes.

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