Macon Magazine

86 maconmagazine.com | August/September 2024 TRACIE REVIS As Macon gears up to be the site of Georgia's first National Park, we reached out to Tracie Revis for her Insider Guide. She moved to Macon in 2022 to become director of advocacy for Ocmulgee National Park and Preserve Initiative (ONPPI). Before that, Revis was the first female chief of staff of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. Before that, she had been the executive director of the Euchee (Yuchi) Tribe. So, she appreciates Macon not just with a newcomer's fresh perspective but also through the lens of ancestral connection as a Muscogee citizen. The razor-sharp attorney (who gave her 2023 TED Talk wearing an Indigenous Barbie shirt and traditional ribbon skirt) is among the key leaders propelling the redesignation of Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park to become Georgia's first National Park – the first in the nation to be co-managed by a removed tribe – and establishing a preserve along 30 miles of the Ocmulgee River Corridor. Her guide to Macon spans millennia, inspiring us to see Downtown Macon not only for all its current progress but also for its living past. So, there's a lot of buzz surrounding the Ocmulgee Mounds. What should people look for in the coming year? We should look forward to the redesignation of the park to the National Park and Preserve. You'll also see Bicentennial Park and its new artwork coming to the additional pedestrian park entrance in East Macon next year. In this series, we turn to the passionate Maconites, those who call this vibrant city home, to curate their very own guides to experiencing Downtown Macon. Whether you are a resident seeking to rediscover your city or a curious visitor eager to immerse yourself in the local culture, these guides will open doors to new ideas and lasting memories. Discover what defines Downtown Macon: from feeling the energy of our bustling streets and exploring historic landmarks to savoring the mouthwatering cuisine and engaging with the vibrant arts and music scene. We'll let the insiders share more. M y M a c o n I N P A R T N E R S H I P W I T H N E W T O W N M A C O N I N S I D E R G U I D E S T O D O W N T O W N M A C O N What should park visitors know? The park is very sacred. Not just the lands that were originally protected in 1936, but all the lands surrounding it. Visitors should approach the park with deference and respect for it as sacred and as the site of a civilization. This was a capital city for us. It was the Atlanta of its day, the center for many surrounding tribal towns. When people think about or go to Rome, they don't just see Roman columns as ruins. They can envision all the things that used to be there. They know what they were historically, and they think about it that way — with imagination and admiration for the history and culture. A lot of the current roads, like the roads that go below the Fall Line, over to Columbus, and out of town, were all of our ancient travel roads. Our trade and commerce went all the way up to Charleston, all the way down to the Gulf, and were a network throughout the Southeast. While all you see remaining are the earthworks, you have to imagine that there were thousands of people who lived whole lives here for thousands of years. This sacred land holds 17,000 years of history. What's the best vantage point in the park for sparking their imagination to envision that civilization? Look from on top of the Temple Mound toward the Earth Lodge, then orient yourself and look east to west. In the Muscogee culture, doors will typically face east. Life begins, the sun rises, in the east. It sets in the west, so burial is going to be to the west. That's why the Funeral Mound is to your left, the west, and why the Earth Lodge straight ahead of you is oriented with its door toward your right, the east. So when you look from the top of the Temple Mound to the Earth Lodge, everything lines up. That area that you are looking over was the town square. You would have had the Stickball field out there, with its pole as the very center of the town, surrounded by residences built in our T R A C I E ' S R O U T E : Breakfast at H&H; see the Cotton Avenue Historic Black Business District City Hall to see the Muscogee (Creek) Nation Flag Walk down Poplar for: Music history Black historic markers Bright City art gallery on Poplar Street Lane (Ocmulgee to Okmulgee series) Walk to Ocmulgee Mounds' pedestrian entrance in East Macon, past the site of the new Bicentennial Park Hike to the top of the Great Temple Mound. Envision the capital city that was there Lunch at The Rookery Visit Macon Mercer Music at Capricorn Sweet Eleanor's for coffee Dinner at Piedmont Brewery & Kitchen (try the brisket) Grant's Lounge for live music + a nightcap

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