MACON, Ga. — At Macon's Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park, you can see thousands of years of Native American history unfold. This week, you can see a new exhibit take shape right before your eyes.
Native Americans have used the art of canoe-building for centuries, and even with the changing of time, dugout canoes are still a staple in an everlasting culture.
Pedro Zepeda is a native of Florida's Seminole tribe. He says his grandfather worked on canoes when he was a child. It inspired him to take up the craft.
"For us, this is an ongoing tradition," Pedro says. "We never stopped making dugout canoes. It was a necessity for us living in the Everglades."
Pedro says normally this canoe would take 4 to 6 weeks to finish, but with a little help from John John Brown, the process is twice as fast.
John John is a native of the Muscogee Nation. He builds canoes for a living and wanted something he could share with the national park.
"We wanted to educate people here. Also, on this for the Muscogee Creek, especially people think that they went away," John John says.
Tourists like Alla Zagrebelska and her daughter Mila said they learned a lot while watching the making of a native tradition.
"I think the takeaway is that we as a community and as a society need to really preserve the Native American culture," Alla says.
The canoe is set to be finished by Friday, June 10, but if you come to the park, you can still get a good look at it in the exhibit.
The park is off Emery Highway in east Macon. The canoe is being created in the outdoor classroom next to the visitor center.