This is a list of state parks in Georgia. The park system of the US state of Georgia was founded in 1931 with Indian Springs State Park and Vogel State Park. Indian Springs has been operated by the state as a public park since 1825, making it perhaps the oldest state park in the United States. [1] The newest state park is Don Carter State Park. [2]
Since the Great Recession, Georgia has halved the budget for the Division of State Parks and Historic Sites and turned over the management of five of the parks to Coral Hospitality, a Florida-based hotel and resort management company. The five parks are Amicalola Falls State Park & Lodge, Unicoi State Park & Lodge, Little Ocmulgee State Park & Lodge, Georgia Veterans State Park, and George T. Bagby State Park. [3]
Park name | County or Counties | Size | Year established | Year disestablished | Location | Image | Remarks | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
acres | ha | ||||||||
Chehaw State Park | Dougherty | 800 | 320 | 1937 | 1977 | 31°37′3.44″N84°8′17.17″W / 31.6176222°N 84.1381028°W | In 1974, the city of Albany leased 100 acres (40 ha) of unused land in Chehaw Park from the state of Georgia to develop a wild animal park where exotic and indigenous animals would be displayed in their natural habitats. With the inception of the wild animal habitat, the State donated the entire Chehaw Park acreage to the city to further develop. | ||
Bobby Brown State Park | Elbert | 665 | 269 | 1950s | 2015 | 33°58′26.93″N82°34′43.6″W / 33.9741472°N 82.578778°W | The park was established on the waters of the newly constructed Clark Hills Lake in the 1950s. It was downgraded to Bobby Brown State Outdoor Recreation Area in 2009. In 2015, a lease agreement was reached with the United States Army Corps of Engineers. The park is now operated by the government of Elbert County, Georgia. [8] | ||
George Washington Carver State Park | Bartow | 345 | 140 | 1950 | 1975 | 34°8′20.86″N84°40′1.06″W / 34.1391278°N 84.6669611°W | It was established during segregation on land adjacent to Red Top Mountain State Park and billed as Georgia's first state park for African Americans. It was removed from the state park system due to budget cuts, turned over to Bartow County, and renamed Bartow Carver Park. It returned to its original name in 2017. [9] | ||
Hart State Park | Hart | 147 | 59 | 1968 | 2020 | 34°22′35.16″N82°54′38.4″W / 34.3764333°N 82.910667°W | In April 2020, management of the park passed from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources to the City of Hartwell. [10] In June 2020, a groundbreaking ceremony was officially held for the renamed Hartwell Lakeside Park. [11] | ||
Jekyll Island State Park | Glynn | 5,700 | 2,300 | 1947 | 1950 | 31°4′12″N81°25′13″W / 31.07000°N 81.42028°W | It was formerly a state park, but since 1951 it has been managed by the Jekyll Island Authority, a self-supporting state agency. | ||
John Tanner State Park | Carroll | 138 | 56 | 1971 | 2013 | 33°36′7.92″N85°10′3.72″W / 33.6022000°N 85.1677000°W | Operated from 1954 to 1971 as Tanner's Beach, it was purchased by the state in 1971, and opened in 1972. It became managed by Carroll County in 2010 and was purchased by Carroll County in 2013. [12] | ||
Santo Domingo State Park | Glynn | 1934 | 1946 | 31°19′37.28″N81°29′13.13″W / 31.3270222°N 81.4869806°W | The state of Georgia conveyed the Santo Domingo State Park property to J. Ardell Nation in 1946. Ardell established the Boys Estate, an orphanage for homeless boys modeled upon Boys Town, Nebraska. [13] The former property of the Boys Estate is now run by Morningstar Children and Family Services. [14] | ||||
Sprewell Bluff State Park | Upson | 1,372 | 555 | 1993 | 2013 | 31°52′15.85″N84°28′26.15″W / 31.8710694°N 84.4739306°W | It was a state park leased from Georgia Power. In 2013, Upson County, Georgia took over management of the property and it was de-listed. [15] | ||
Standing Boy Creek Park | Muscogee | 1,579 | 639 | 2004 | 2022 | 32°34′20.33″N85°2′10.77″W / 32.5723139°N 85.0363250°W | Transferred to the City of Columbus for funding purposes [16] |
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, and a portion of the city extends into neighboring DeKalb County. With a population of 510,823 living within the city limits, Atlanta is the eighth most populous city in the Southeast and 38th most populous city in the United States according to the 2020 U.S. census. It is the principal city of the much larger Atlanta metropolitan area, the core of which includes Cobb, Clayton and Gwinnett counties, in addition to Fulton and DeKalb. Metro Atlanta is home to more than 6.3 million people, making it the sixth-largest U.S. metropolitan area. Situated among the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains at an elevation of just over 1,000 feet (300 m) above sea level, Atlanta features unique topography that includes rolling hills, lush greenery, and the densest urban tree coverage of any major city in the United States.
Georgia is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the northwest, North Carolina to the northeast, South Carolina to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, Florida to the south, and Alabama to the west. Of the 50 United States, Georgia is the 24th-largest by area and eighth most populous. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, its 2023 estimated population was 11,029,227. Atlanta, a global city, is both the state's capital and its largest city. The Atlanta metropolitan area, with a population of more than 6.3 million people in 2023, is the sixth most populous metropolitan area in the United States and contains about 57% of Georgia's entire population. Other major metropolitan areas in the state include Augusta, Savannah, Columbus, and Macon.
Oconee County is the westernmost county in the U.S. state of South Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 78,607. Its county seat is Walhalla and its largest community is Seneca. Oconee County is included in the Seneca, SC Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is also included in the Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson, SC Combined Statistical Area. South Carolina Highway 11, the Cherokee Foothills National Scenic Highway, begins in southern Oconee County at Interstate Highway 85 at the Georgia state line.
Ball Ground is a city in Cherokee County, Georgia, United States. The city was originally Cherokee territory before they were removed from the land and it was given to white settlers. A railroad was built in 1882 and a town was formed around the resulting railroad stop. The town was incorporated on January 1, 1883, and became an industrial-based economy largely centered around its marble industry until around the mid-20th century when the industries began to leave and the city started to decline. From 2000 onwards the city saw rapid growth; as of the 2020 census the city had a population of 2,560, which is over three times the city's population of 730 in 2000.
Mableton is a city in Cobb County, Georgia, United States. Voters of the unincorporated area of Mableton approved a referendum to incorporate on November 8, 2022, and six council members were elected on March 21, 2023, with Michael Owens elected as mayor of Mableton in the 2023 Mableton mayoral election. According to the 2020 census, the census-designated area Mableton had a population of 37,115; the city has more. Upon Brookhaven's cityhood in December 2012, Mableton was previously the largest unincorporated CDP in Metro Atlanta. With boundaries described in Appendix A of House Bill 839, Mableton is the largest city in Cobb County in terms of population and includes historical Mableton, along with the Six Flags area, areas of unincorporated Smyrna, and parts of unincorporated South Cobb.
Alpharetta is a city in northern Fulton County, Georgia, United States, and part of the Atlanta metropolitan area. As of the 2020 U.S. census, Alpharetta's population was 65,818; in 2010, the population had been 57,551.
East Point is a suburban city located southwest of Atlanta in Fulton County, Georgia, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 38,358. The city name is derived from being at the opposite end of the former Atlanta and West Point Railroad from West Point.
Stone Mountain is a quartz monzonite dome monadnock and the site of Stone Mountain Park, 15 miles (24 km) east of Atlanta, Georgia. Outside the park is the city of Stone Mountain, Georgia. The park is the most visited tourist site in the state of Georgia.
State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the sub-national level within those nations which use "state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on account of its natural beauty, historic interest, or recreational potential. There are state parks under the administration of the government of each U.S. state, some of the Mexican states, and in Brazil. The term is also used in the Australian states of Victoria and New South Wales. The equivalent term used in Canada, Argentina, South Africa, and Belgium, is provincial park. Similar systems of local government maintained parks exist in other countries, but the terminology varies.
The Little White House was the personal retreat of Franklin D. Roosevelt, the 32nd president of the United States, located in the Historic District of Warm Springs, Georgia. He first came to Warm Springs in 1924 for polio treatment, and liked the area so much that, as Governor of New York, he had a home built on nearby Pine Mountain. The house was finished in 1932. Roosevelt kept the house after he became president, using it as a presidential retreat. He died there on April 12, 1945, three months into his fourth term.
The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college American football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were voted first team All-American by the media.
Disney's River Country was the first water park at Walt Disney World Resort, Florida. River Country, located along the shores of Bay Lake and near Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground, was themed as a rustic, old-fashioned swimming hole. Opening on June 20, 1976, the park closed indefinitely on November 2, 2001. On January 20, 2005, after roughly three years of closure, The Walt Disney Company announced that the park would remain closed, permanently.
Lake Lanier is a reservoir in the northern portion of the U.S. state of Georgia. It was created by the completion of Buford Dam on the Chattahoochee River in 1956, and is also fed by the waters of the Chestatee River. The lake encompasses 38,000 acres (15,000 ha) or 59 sq mi (150 km2) of water, and 692 mi (1,114 km) of shoreline at normal level, a "full pool" of 1,071 ft (326 m) above mean sea level and the exact shoreline varies by resolution according to the coastline paradox. Named for Confederate veteran and poet Sidney Lanier, it was built and is operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for flood control and water supplies. Its construction destroyed more than 50,000 acres (20,000 ha) of farmland and displaced more than 250 families, 15 businesses, and relocated 20 cemeteries along with their remains in the process.
Scouting in Georgia has a long history, from the 1910s to the present day, serving thousands of youth in programs that suit the environment in which they live. The state is home to many milestones for the Scouting movement. The Girl Scout birthplace is located in Savannah, and President Jimmy Carter served as a Scoutmaster in Plains, Georgia.
Hartwell Lakeside Park, formerly known as Hart State Park, is a 147 acres (59 ha) park in Hartwell, in northeast Georgia. The park is named after the American Revolutionary War heroine Nancy Hart, who lived in the Georgia frontier, and it was her devotion to freedom that has helped make her name commonplace in the Georgia upcountry.
Great Wolf Resorts, Inc. is a chain of resort hotels and indoor water parks. The company owns and operates its family resorts under the Great Wolf Lodge brand. In addition to a water park, each resort features restaurants, arcades, spas, and children's activities. Great Wolf Resorts is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.
Ponce de Leon Springs was a mineral spring in Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States. The spring was a popular tourist destination from the mid-1800s through the early 1900s. Around the turn of the century, the land surrounding the spring was developed into an amusement park. By the 1920s, the amusement park was demolished, and the area was developed for industrial and, later, commercial properties.
Historic Hotels of America is a program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation that was founded in 1989 with 32 charter members; the program accepts nominations and identifies hotels in the United States that have maintained their authenticity, sense of place, and architectural integrity.