From the obvious to the often overlooked, we have gathered the top 75 must-do things in the Georgia State Parks and Historic Sites. Our list includes fun, inspiring, beautiful and surefire memory making events. Let this list lead you to the best Georgia State Parks and Historic Sites have to offer while we celebrate our 75th Anniversary during 2006.

If you have suggestions for other things to do that you have especially enjoyed at the state parks and historic sites, please click here and share your ideas with us.

75 Things to Do

Other Things to Do Suggested by Our Visitors

1. Log on to www.gastateparks.org/75th to learn about the 75th anniversary of Georgia’s State Park System.
   
   
2. Sleep in the luxurious Lodge at Smithgall Woods where you’ll be surrounded by more than 5,500 acres of wilderness.
   
   
3. Plan a complete golf getaway at any of Georgia’s eight state park golf courses.
   
   
4. Make a summertime stop at the Elijah Clark State Park’s log cabin museum.
   
   
5. See A.H. Stephens State Park’s Liberty Hill, the 1875 home of Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens.
   
   
6. Launch a boat at Mistletoe State Park, situated on the largest man-made lake east of the Mississippi River (Clarks Hill Lake).
   
   
7. Picnic at F.D. Roosevelt State Park’s Dowdell’s Knob, one of the president’s favorite overlooks.
   
   
8. Watch turtles, fish and even alligators swim through crystal-clear waters at Magnolia Springs State Park.
   
   
9. Feel the mist coming off Georgia’s tallest waterfall, a 729-foot tumbling cascade, at Amicalola Falls State Park.
   
   
10. Snuggle up to a campfire with marshmallows and hot chocolate at one of Georgia’s 48 State Parks.
    
    
11. Hike to the ruins of a textile mill destroyed during the Civil War, now protected at Sweetwater Creek State Park.
    
    
12. Pack your binoculars during late spring to see the colorful Painted Bunting at Skidaway Island State Park.
    
    
13. Straddle the eastern continental divide at Black Rock Mountain State Park.
    
    
14. Explore Florence Marina State Park and find egrets and eagles.
    
    
15. Discover what “yurt camping” is at Bobby Brown State Park.
    
    
16. Be enthralled by the rocky cliffs within Cloudland Canyon State Park.
    
    
17. Launch a sea kayak at Crooked River State Park for a paddle along the Georgia coast.
    
    
18. Don your swimsuit for a day in the sun at John Tanner State Park’s beach, the largest at any state park in Georgia.
    
    
19. Dine at Little Ocmulgee State Park’s restaurant as golfers tee off right outside the window.
    
    
20. Feel the presence of Civil War soldiers while walking into their underground sleeping quarters at Fort McAllister Historic Park.
    
    
21. Design your own cast iron skillet during an iron pour at Red Top Mountain State Park on Lake Allatoona.
    
    
22. Imagine your own reason why a mysterious 855-foot-long rock wall was built hundreds of years ago at Fort Mountain State Park.
    
    
23. Saddle up your horses and gallop to Watson Mill Bridge State Park’s equine trails.
    
    
24. Peer inside a 1792 fort used by early settlers for protection against Creek and Cherokee Indians at Fort Yargo State Park.
    
    
25. Join a guided tour of Sapelo Island to see a working lighthouse and R.J. Reynold’s basement bowling alley.
    
    
26. Sleep in General Coffee State Park’s Burnham House, one of the nicest cottages at a Georgia state park.
    
    
27. Dream away the day on a lakeside swing at James H. Sloppy Floyd State Park.
    
    
28. Hike along the Towaliga River to old factory ruins at High Falls State Park.
    
    
29. Try to break the state record for Redeye Bass (3 lbs., 7 oz.) caught near Tugaloo State Park on Lake Hartwell.
    
    
30. Paddle silently among moss-draped cypress and tupelo trees at George L. Smith State Park.
    
    
31. Set sail on a sparkling lake at Hart State Park.
    
    
32. Shop to your heart’s content at Unicoi State Park’s gift shop, featuring one of Georgia’s largest displays of hand-made quilts.
    
    
33. Plan your next business meeting at the lodge at George T. Bagby State Park, complete with restaurant and golf course.
    
    
34. Challenge your family to a rousing game of mini-golf.
    
    
35. Raise your heart rate and your fitness level while hiking in Cloudland Canyon State Park.
    
    
36. Test your stamina, and your courage, by hiking into Tallulah Gorge and crossing a breathtaking suspension bridge.
    
    
37. Drive the live oak-lined entrance to Wormsloe Historic Site, one of Georgia’s first colonial estates.
    
    
38. Tour seven mounds and a museum at Kolomoki Mounds Historic Park and learn about ancient Indians who lived here until 950 A.D.
    
    
39. Cast a line in one of Georgia’s premier trout streams, Duke’s Creek, at Smithgall Woods Conservation Area.
    
    
40. Fly model airplanes at Georgia Veteran’s State Park’s R/C field.
    
    
41. Climb to the top of an ancient Indian mound preserved at Etowah Indian Mounds Historic Site.
    
    
42. Enjoy old-timey recreation and rent a pedal boat at one of the nation’s oldest state parks, Vogel State Park.
    
    
43. Walk the grounds where the infamous “Trail of Tears” officially began at New Echota Historic Site.
    
    
44. Travel back to the mid-1800s at Jarrell Plantation Historic Site.
    
    
45. Make Moccasin Creek State Park’s lakeside campground your “home base” for touring north Georgia in the fall.
    
    
46. Tee off at Highland Walk Golf Course surrounded by beautiful Victoria Bryant State Park.
    
    
47. Search for the rare Gordonia tree at Gordonia-Alatamaha State Park.
    
    
48. Learn how British soldiers lived in the 1720s while touring the reconstructed Fort King George Historic Site.
    
    
49. Hike five miles to Georgia’s only backcountry lodge, the Hike Inn at Amicalola Falls State Park.
    
    
50. Rent a canoe at Stephen C. Foster State Park to explore the mysterious and beautiful Okefenokee Swamp.
    
    
51. Try to find right angles in the construction of Lapham-Patterson House, which is said to have none.
    
    
52. Buy a bag of corn meal ground at Hamburg State Park’s historic mill.
    
    
53. See where some say that the Civil War officially ended at Jefferson Davis Historic Site.
    
    
54. Try to beat the state record for Walleye caught in Richard B. Russell State Park’s lake.
    
    
55. Follow in the footsteps of soldiers at Pickett’s Mill Historic Site, one of the best preserved battlefields from the Civil War.
    
    
56. Saddle up for a ride along Hard Labor Creek State Park’s 22-mile horse trail.
    
    
57. Tour the white-columned home of Confederate leader Robert Toombs at Robert Toombs Historic Site.
    
    
58. Perfect your water skiing skills on Laura Walker State Park’s sparkling lake.
    
    
59. Fill a jug with mineral water from one of the nation’s oldest state parks, Indian Springs State Park.
    
    
60. Join rangers on a guided hike to see rare plants and granite outcrops at Panola Mountain State Park.
    
    
61. Hike the Pine Mountain Trail, one of Georgia’s longest, within F.D. Roosevelt State Park.
    
    
62. Hop aboard the SAM Shortline excursion train to see President Jimmy Carter’s boyhood home and campaign headquarters.
    
    
63. Count all the colors (43) in Providence Canyon State Park, one of the Seven Natural Wonders of Georgia and the only one that’s actually man-made.
    
    
64. Leash up your canine best friend for a stay in one of Georgia’s pet friendly state park cottages.
    
    
65. Stand under Skidaway Island State Park’s towering giant ground sloth replica, much like the first one found fossilized in North America.
    
    
66. Scout for Georgia’s state reptile, the burrowing gopher tortoise, at Reed Bingham State Park.
    
    
67. Discover the beginnings of our nation’s gold rush at Dahlonega Gold Museum.
    
    
68. Satisfy both the birder and the bass fisherman in your group with a visit to Seminole State Park.
    
    
69. Feel breezes across the old rice fields of coastal Hofwyl-Broadfield Plantation Historic Site.
    
    
70. Walk among the earthwork remains of Revolutionary War-era Fort Morris Historic Site.
    
    
71. Search the banks of the Flint River for the perfect “skipping rock” at Sprewell Bluff State Park.
    
    
72. See the famous “unfinished portrait” that President Franklin D. Roosevelt was sitting for when he suffered a stroke at his Little White House.
    
    
73. At New Echota Historic Site, visit the print shop where Cherokees published a bilingual newspaper during the 1830s.
    
    
74. Imagine finding comfort and a warm meal during the 1830s at Traveler’s Rest Historic Site.
    
    
75. Ponder the “floating” staircase at the Cherokee Chief Vann House Historic Site.

Other Things to Do Suggested by Our Visitors

Please check back and see what other exciting and fun things our visitors suggest you do while visiting Georgia's State Parks & Historic Sites.

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