Bleckley County GA

A Fresh Look at Ocmulgee Bottoms

Ocmulgee in 1000AD

Many of the most fundamental assumptions by the Anthropology profession concerning the Pre-European history of the Lower Southeast were developed during the mid-20th century as a result of a massive, federally-funded excavation of archaeological sites near Macon, GA. While today, anthropologists, museums and the National Park Service present a united front stating that the body of knowledge, which resulted from the Ocmulgee Bottoms studies, was the result of comprehensive analysis, plus well-thought out consensus by some of the most brilliant men of their time, the truth is quite a bit different.

Native American History of Bleckley County, Georgia

Bleckley County is located in central Georgia.  It is named after Edward Logan Bleckley (1827 – 1907) – a lawyer and Chief Justice of the Georgia Supreme Court.  Its county seat is Cochran.  Bleckley is the location of the nation’s oldest two year public college, Middle Georgia College. Bleckley County is bordered on the north by both Wilkinson and Twiggs Counties. Laurens County forms its eastern boundary. Dodge County forms its southwestern boundary while Pulaski County forms its southwestern boundary. It is bordered to the west by Houston County.  The Ocmulgee River forms a relatively short section of the county’s … Read more

The Natural History of Ocmulgee Bottoms

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Ocmulgee Bottoms is a corridor of the Ocmulgee River Flood Plain in the central region of the State of Georgia that begins at the Fall Line in Macon, GA and continues 38 miles southward to near Hawkinsville, GA. This region is located in Bibb, Twiggs, Houston, Bleckley and Pulaski Counties. The Ocmulgee River’s velocity slows dramatically upon entering the Bottoms and has a serpentine channel. Over the eons, the river here has meandered frequently across the breath of the flood plain, leaving hundreds of ponds and swamps, plus a deep layer of rich, alluvial soil. On top of the alluvial soil is from one to ten feet or red clay that was deposited during the period when cotton was cultivated in the Piedmont, upstream.