As part of the International Cherry Blossom Festival, the Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park hosted their annual Lantern Light Tour March 24-25 which gives visitors a chance to tour the mounds at night.

“The lantern light tours are the one-time opportunity to come out here at night and have a guided tour,” says Executive Director of the Smoky Mountains Association, Lisa Lemon.

Along the tour, there are five stops where people get the chance to learn about the 12,000+ years of human inhabitation at Ocmulgee. People get a chance to hear about the Ice Age hunters, the Muscogee Creek people, and their removal, to everything that occurred after that.

“We also have someone out here tonight who is Muscogee Creek that will be talking about from that point, to where they are today, and the connection with Ocmulgee mounds,” says Lemon.

The Muscogee Creek Nation’s previous Chief of Staff and Ocmulgee’s current Director of Advocacy, Tracie Revis, had a chance to speak on Friday’s tour.

“I think what’s important is to see it at night and to see the vastness when it is lit up by the stars,” says Revis.

This is her first time participating in the lantern tours and is very excited about the park being able to incorporate some of the nocturnal stories and being able to see the different animals that move around at night with this event.

“I am excited to be a part of this because I get to tell it from a cultural perspective since I am actually Muscogee and Yuchi, and I also get to tell some of the stories from the storyteller side of it,” says Revis, “It’s not just the history, it’s the stories that bring it alive.”

The Lantern Light Tours this year have come to an end, but there are other ways to go out to Ocmulgee National Historic Park. The park holds weekly events such as an Earth Lodge Tour, Pottery, and Ranger Talk. Visit their website for more information on these events and others to come.

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