U.S. House okays bill designating Georgia’s first national historic park (Macon: shop)

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This will be huge not only for Macon, but for all of Georgia....

The legislation would designate the Ocmulgee National Monument, near Macon, as the Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park and expand its boundaries roughly four-fold to more than 2,800 acres. It would also authorize a study looking into further expansion and eventually create a greenway-water corridor with the Bond Swamp Wildlife Refuge and Ocmulgee River.

“Our legislation is a welcomed example of what can be achieved when a local community, state leaders, and Members of Congress, from both sides of the aisle, collaborate towards a worthy goal, and today’s vote marks an important milestone in many years of effort to bring about increased recognition and enhanced cultural preservation of the Ocmulgee National Monument,” said U.S. Rep Austin Scott, R-Tifton, who co-sponsored the bill along with Albany Democrat Sanford Bishop, in a statement.

Here’s some more background from our colleague Dan Chapman:

“Georgia is already home to National Historic Sites (such as Andersonville), National Heritage Areas (Arabia Mountain), National Recreation Areas (the Chattahoochee River) and a National Seashore (Cumberland Island). Ocmulgee, if approved by Congress and the president, would join Appomattox Court House, Harpers Ferry and other historic sites.

Native Americans first settled in Middle Georgia roughly 17,000 years ago. Burial mounds and earthen lodges built by the Mississippians around 900 A.D. remain intact.”

U.S. House okays bill designating Georgia’s first national historic park | Political Insider blog