MACON, Ga. — For some, the Ocmulgee National Monument is a place to get away.
Blake Patterson runs up here regularly. "I take my dog up here a lot. We run, we go to the trails, we just run around. It's a nice break from everything, nice and peaceful up here."
For others, it's history. "I am always a big fan of protecting our national heritage and telling the story of our country even before it was our country," says John Washburn, an elementary school teacher from Atlanta.
Earlier this week, the U.S. Senate brought the landmark one step closer to expansion and a change in name by passing the National Resources Management Act.
As it stands right now, Ocmulgee has national monument designation, but the goal is to expand and protect it with national park designation.
By the numbers, the land currently sits at 702 acres. With the addition of more land, it will reach 28 hundred acres, and visitors think it will bring out even more people.
Patterson says, "I think anything to make a park like this bigger and better is going to drive more people up here."
Changing the name to the Ocmulgee Mounds National Historic Park is also appealing, says Washburn. "Being able to have a place where they can see it instead of just a book where they can read it helps them experience and learn and understand their history and their backgrounds and their pasts."
With the bill passed through the Senate, the next stop is the House of Representatives. From there, the bill will be placed on the desk of President Trump to sign.