Georgia Natural Wonder #226 - Georgia Veterans State Park - Crisp County. 414

[Top Row Dawg]

Georgia Natural Wonder #226 - Georgia Veterans State Park - Crisp County

We continue our search for Natural Wonders of Georgia by checking off all the State Parks. Georgia Veterans State Park (originally the Georgia Veterans Memorial State Park) is a state park located on Lake Blackshear in Crisp County, west of Cordele, Georgia.



It was established on December 4, 1946 as a memorial to U.S. Veterans. The 1,308-acre park features a military museum with aircraft, vehicles, weapons, uniforms and other memorabilia.



Perched on picturesque Lake Blackshear, the park includes one of the most naturally beautiful Georgia golf courses, four miles of nature trails, and endless opportunities for fishing, boating, and water recreation.



The main attractions include 8,600-acre Lake Blackshear, a privately operated conference center and golf club and the SAM Shortline Excursion Train, which runs from Cordele to Plains.



In 2013, Georgia Veterans State Park was privatized and its management handed over to Coral Hospitality, a Florida-based hotel and resort management company.



Take in the breathtaking views and beautiful sunsets on the lake while relaxing on the veranda of the lodge or listen for the peaceful sounds of nature from the private screened porches of the villas and cabins.



Georgia Veterans State Park boasts an impressive variety of amenities and facilities. As the name implies the park was established to honor Georgia's military veterans.



This is reflected in the theme of the park's museum. It displays medals, uniforms, weapons, vehicles, aircraft and other items that span the time from the Revolutionary War through the Gulf War.



Established as a memorial to U.S. veterans and operating under the theme, “Serve the Living: Honor our Heroic Dead,”



Georgia Veterans State Park is home to an indoor and outdoor Museum that pays tribute to veterans from the Revolutionary War through the present day.



Visitors may visit the Museum and learn about the history of our veterans and walk the outdoor static displays which include: a B-29A Superfortress, jets, a helicopter, tanks, landing craft and artillery.



This educational experience is a must see for families, school groups and all those who have served in the U.S. military.



TRD overload Military park images.





The park is situated on the beautiful 8,600 acre Lake Blackshear and is enjoyed by boaters, jet skiers, water skiers, fishermen, and swimmers.



Private boats are allowed on the lake or if you prefer there are a variety of watercraft available for rent at the Georgia Veterans State Park Marina.



All about this man made lake.



Flint River's only lake and dam.



There are also plenty of things-to-do on land. There are two nature trails and plenty of camping.



The Walk In The Pines Trail and the Yucca Trace Trail.


Side boardwalk Walk In The Pines Trail.



Plenty of images to credit this as a Georgia Natural Wonder.



The Lake Blackshear Resort and Golf Club, a privately run facility that is part of the park, operates an 18 hole golf course and also offers lodge rooms, cottages, and conference facilities.



There is also a pro shop and a restaurant at the lodge.



Recognized as one of middle and south Georgia’s finest courses, Georgia Veterans Memorial Golf Course or “Vet’s Course” at Lake Blackshear Resort & Golf Club, is the best-kept secret of golf in Georgia.



Only two hours from Atlanta and one hour from Macon, our challenging venue tests players through expertly placed mounds, water hazards, and plenty of sand bunkers.



Ranked by Golf Digest as a four-star course, the picturesque lake views along with Cordele’s mild climate and affordable golf packages make the Denis Griffiths’ designed course the perfect place to enjoy the sport year-round.



No shortage of images of Golf Course.





You can hold functions at the park, if you wanted to: hold a conference in the resort, have a large picnic at one of the outdoor group picnic facilities, or even rent a 50 passenger boat for a celebration party. If you are interested in a more adventuresome overnight stay there are 77 camp sites in the park. They can can accommodate tents, RVs, or trailers.



Roughing it in this case also includes having cable TV hookups available at each campsite.



Just in case none of these things grab your interest there are still more options. You can play a game of disc golf on the Georgia Veterans State Park course.



You can fly your model airplane from the R/C Model Airplane Flying Field.



You can also take a ride on The Sam Shortline Excursion Train. The Georgia Veterans State Park train station is just one of a number of stops the Shortline train makes as it travels between a number of local towns. Each stops offers historical attractions, like the President Carter Campaign Museum in Plains, and places to shop.



The SAMShortline Excursion Train is an unmatched travel experience for you, friends and family. Georgia’s only rolling state park combines the rich history of the area and classic railroad travel with pleasure and relaxation. The vintage train cars vary in ambiance but all provide climate-controlled comfort and large windows to view the passing Southwest Georgia scenery. Two new luxury private cars have now been added to the train to provide a vantage point you’ll find nowhere else.



Your destination, Plains, Americus or Archery- depending on the trip, is rich in history. The town of Plains, home of our 39th President Jimmy Carter, offers an inside look at his campaign and his life and in so doing provides an education in American politics. Archery, President Carter’s boyhood home, also gives you an up-close look at rural life in the early 1900’s. There is so much to do in both places time will fly. Then you can sink back in your comfy seats and enjoy the leisurely return ride. The ride from Americus to Plains (The “Americus Local”) is a portion of every trip offering passengers a shorter experience. Riding in air-conditioned, 1949 vintage cars, you’ll enjoy a mix of romantic yesteryear with the excitement of today’s South. The SAM Shortline stops in quaint towns filled with fun attractions, restaurants and shopping.


Or you can hang with buddy at camp site.

You can explore these towns and attractions while riding SAM Shortline Excursion Train:
   
Georgia Veterans State Park and Military Museum.
 
Lake Blackshear Resort & Golf Club
   
The Rural Telephone Museum (Leslie)


   
Café Campesino (Americus)
   
The Beautiful Rylander Theatre (Americus)
   
The Windsor Hotel (Americus)


Oh man we still get to cover Americus and Andersonville Prison.
   
President Carter’s Campaign Museum (Plains)
   
President Carter’s Boyhood Home (Archery)



11 Miles from Route:
Andersonville National Historic Site and National POW Museum.




Re-creation of gate and white markers note original stockade.

SAM Shortline boards from either the Downtown Cordele Depot or Georgia Veterans State Park Depot.



Not many parks can boast having a golf course, a large recreational lake, and a local train!



Refresh your spirit, honor those who have served, and enjoy the great outdoors on the banks of Lake Blackshear at this historically important and naturally beautiful Georgia State Park.



Entrance to the park is $5.00 per car for the general public and $3.75 per car for veterans or active military with proper identification.





Reviews

What a winning combination. A state park with resort like accommodations!



Love the veterans museum some very cool historic planes, tank, helicopters and jets. Can't wait to go back!



The park has nature trails, Frisbee golf, a playground, boat rentals, a train that goes through the local sites!



Set in the beautiful Georgia Veterans State Park, the resort is pretty easy to find and has the "wow factor" when you drive across the bridge and into the park.



Extra images today's Georgia Natural Wonder #226





Crisp County

Dang this makes me wanna go there to ride train and see museum. These wonders are still pretty cool with the State parks being featured. Crisp County only has 5 National Register of Historic Places and about 20 historical markers with 7 of those being plaques at the Cordele Railway Park. Cordele is really the only major city, so let's try to make this a one post history tangent on Crisp County. 



Crisp County is a county located in the central portion of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2010 census, the population was 23,439. The county seat is Cordele.


1955 and 1999.

The county was created on August 17, 1905, from Dooly County and named for Georgia Congressman Charles Frederick Crisp.



He was the Speaker of the House or the house Minority Leader from 1890 to 1896 when he died. As a former Speaker of the House, his portrait had been on display in the US Capitol.



The portrait was removed from public display in the Speaker's Lobby outside the House Chamber after an order issued by the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi on June 18, 2020, due to Crisp having fought in the Confederate States Army.

History

The area now forming Crisp County was once a province called Chisi, Ichisi, or Achese, which was inhabited by the Lower Creek division of the Muskogee Indians. The first Europeans visited the area in 1540, when Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto and his followers passed through. Priests traveling with the explorers said Mass in a village that historians have identified as a predecessor of the modern town of Cordele. This Mass may have been the first Christian religious service held in the southeastern United States.


Lower Creeks.

In an effort to curtail English trade with Creeks in the region, Spanish Floridians allied with Apalachee Indians and attacked the English and Creeks in the Flint River Battle of 1702. The English and Creeks prevailed against the invaders near the Flint River in what is now Crisp County, and the battle marked the opening of a campaign that led to England’s successful bid for control of the Mississippi Valley.



Two widely separated highway markers have been erected in Georgia to commemorate the battle. The Georgia Historical Commission erected a highway marker in central Georgia at in Crisp County near Georgia Veterans State Park in 1965, and the Historic Chattahoochee Commission, in 1985, placed a marker in the southern Georgia town of Bainbridge. I remember talking about this battle in that post where we did a Decatur County history tangent off the Natural Wonder of Climax Caverns, GNW #152 (Part 2).





The two forces met near the Flint River when the Apalachee made a predawn attack on the Apalachicola camp. Anticipating the possibility of this sort of attack, Dodsworth and the Apalachicolas had arranged their blankets to appear occupied and concealed themselves near the camp. When the Apalachee attacked the false camp, the Apalachicolas fell upon them.



With the superiority of their weapons, the English-allied Indians routed the Spanish force. As per Historical Marker placement, this battle happened somewhere between Cordele and Bainbridge on the Flint River.

In November 1864, during the Civil War (1861-65), Joseph E. Brown, the Georgia governor, fled to his farmhouse near Cordele to avoid Union general William T. Sherman’s troops, and for a few days Cordele served as the temporary capital of Confederate Georgia.



For years, this was site of the Suwannee Hotel.



The coming of railroad transportation to the area in the 1880s had a significant impact on population patterns. Several towns were formed at the sites where one or several of the railroads made stops. Among these was Arabi, founded in 1888 and incorporated in 1891. Cordele, founded in 1888 by John Edgar Dawson Shipp of Americus and incorporated that same year, was named for a daughter (Cordele Hawkins) of Samuel H. Hawkins, president of the Savannah, Americus, and Montgomery Railroad.


1938 Cordele.

The town was known in its early years as “the Hub City” because it stood at the junction of several railroad lines.



In 1987 Cordele was named a “Main Street City,” becoming part of a nationwide program aimed at revitalizing downtowns. Other unincorporated communities in the county are Hatley, Raines, and Wenona.



The  Crisp County Hydroelectric Power Dam is the first county (owned, constructed, and operated) hydroelectric power project in the United States. When the dam began generating electricity in 1930, a secondary benefit was the formation of Lake Blackshear in its backwaters.





Named for David Blackshear, the founder of Fort Early, the 8,700-acre shallow lake is the centerpiece of the Georgia Veterans State Park, which offers venues for water sports and facilities for golfers.



Much of the land surrounding the lake was bought from Daphne Plantation, formerly a popular outdoor recreation resort to which the Seaboard Railroad ran excursion trains.

Industry and Economy

Railroad transportation continues to be an important factor in Crisp County’s economy, and Cordele–Crisp County is the only Georgia community located on Interstate 75 to be served by three major railroads. In addition to I-75, both U.S. Highways 41 and 280 run through the center of the county, facilitating the distribution of manufactured goods and bringing travelers through the area. Education and the health and social services are the largest employment sectors, closely followed by manufacturing and retail trade. Agriculture remains significant to the county’s economy, with melons, peaches, peanuts, and pecans being among the most important crops. The Georgia Department of Agriculture runs the Cordele Farmers’ Market, which features local produce.



Because of the large number of watermelons produced in the county, Cordele has styled itself the “Watermelon Capital of the World” and holds an annual Watermelon Days Festival each July.





Places

Among the county’s historic sites is the St. Paul/Gillespie-Selden Rural Life Community Center in the Gillespie-Selden Historic District (See Below in post on Historic Registry). Today the center provides learning and recreational facilities for children.



Fort Early, built by Blackshear during the War of 1812 (1812-15), was used in 1818 by Andrew Jackson during his campaign against the Seminole and Creek Indians.



A short line of the old Savannah, Americus, and Montgomery (SAM) Railroad has been refurbished within Georgia Veterans State Park, which runs the SAM Shortline Excursion Train regularly to Americus and Plains. There are also indoor and outdoor military museums on the site. (See Above)


The Georgia Southern and Florida Railroad depot, built in 1888 in Arabi, was moved to a location south of town and is today part of the local historical society’s outdoor museum.

Education and Population

Darton State College of Albany, an institution of the University System of Georgia, has a satellite campus in Cordele. A branch of the South Georgia Technical College has operated in Cordele since 1999. The college’s mission is workforce development.



According to the 2020 U.S. census, the population is 20,128, a decrease from the 2010 population of 23,439.

Cordele, the Watermelon Capital of the World, hosts an annual Watermelon Festival every July.




TRD has officially spit over 25 feet. Damn thinking that was pretty good then I see World record is 75 feet 2 inches.

National Register of Historic Places listings in Crisp County, Georgia

Cannon Site

No Internet information found.
Prehistoric graves, on private land. The PDF file for this National Register record has not yet been digitized.
Areas Of Significance: PREHISTORIC
Periods Of Significance: 1499-1000 AD
Address Restricted.
Could this be what historians have identified as a predecessor of the modern town of Cordele. The one De Soto and his followers passed through.

Cordele Commercial Historic District

The Cordele Commercial Historic District is a 55 acres historic district in Cordele, Georgia, US which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989. The listing included 66 contributing buildings and a contributing structure.



The district is roughly bounded by Sixth Ave., Sixth St., Ninth Ave., and Fourteenth St.



It includes the Cordele Carnegie Library.


The Carnegie library designed by J.W. Golucke & Co. which was built in 1903.

The 1907 Masonic Lodge was designed in Beaux Arts style by architect T. Firth Lockwood, Sr.


Masonic building



In the area of architecture, the district is significant for its retention of the historic commercial, industrial, institutional, and transportation-related buildings and structures that make up Cordele's central business district.



The late-19th- and early 20th-century stylistic influences found in the district's commercial buildings include Italianate, Victorian Commercial, Neoclassical Revival, Italian Renaissance Revival, and Art Deco.


Post office

It includes a U.S. Post Office building (1912–13) credited to James Knox Taylor, Supervising Architect of the U. S. Treasury, which is separately listed on the National Register as United States Post Office (Cordele, Georgia).

Gillespie-Selden Historic District

The Gillespie-Selden Historic District is a African-American neighborhood, including the Gillespie-Selden Institute in Cordele, Georgia which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998.



It includes an "African-American residential neighborhood, the Gillespie-Selden Institute, a few commercial buildings, and several African-American churches." The neighborhood was established by African-American railway workers in the late 1890s.



The district is 42 acres in size and includes 87 contributing buildings, two contributing structures, and a contributing site.



The area is southwest of the downtown of Cordele, and is roughly bounded on the north by the CSX Railroad tracks and 13th Avenue, on the east by 11th St., on the south by 16th Ave. (U.S. Route 280), and on the west by 15th St. Roughly bounded by Railroad, 10th, and 15th Sts., and 16th Ave.



In 2022, work began on a housing development in the historic district with the hope of revitalizing the neighborhood. The development, named "Gillespie Gardens", is aimed at tenants living at less than 60% of the region's median income.



The former school and hospital building now houses a community center.

O'Neal School Neighborhood Historic District

Roughly bounded by the Seaboard Coastline Railroad, Owens St. 16th Ave. and 6th St.



Of note is  the fact that several of the houses within the district were designed by noted Georgia architects T. Firth Lockwood, Sr. and T. Firth Lockwood, Jr. of Columbus, and W. Elliot Dunwody, Jr. of Macon.



Significant in  the area of architecture for its excellent collection of late 19th- to  mid-20th-century residential architectural styles, including Italianate, Queen Anne, Folk Victorian, Neoclassical Revival, English Vernacular Revival, Colonial Revival, and Craftsman.



Also significant for its good examples of a  variety of house types, including central hallway, gabled- ell, Georgian cottage, New South cottage, bungalow, English cottage, American Small House, Queen Anne house, and Georgian house.



The district is significant in the area of community planning and development as a large middle - to upper class, white neighborhood in the city of Cordele that developed immediately southeast of the central business district.



The district is  also significant for the gridded street pattern that has existed since the city was laid out in 1887.



Grid plans dating from the mid-19th century through the early 20th century are found throughout Georgia in subdivisions, neighborhoods, and entire communities, but they are especially prevalent in south Georgia with its flat terrain.



The overall degree of historic integrity of the resources in the O'Neal School Neighborhood Historic District is very high.



The historic street plan, lot layout, placement of houses, and residential landscaping remain intact.



Most of the buildings in  the district are houses that exhibit a high degree of integrity with few alterations.

United States Post Office (Cordele, Georgia)

The U.S. Post Office in Cordele, Georgia is a historic building built during 1912–13. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on June 29, 1984.



It is located at 102-104 6th Street. James Knox Taylor is credited as the building's architect and its architectural design is considered Renaissance Revival architecture.



Its NRHP nomination deemed it to be "a fine example of Taylor's efforts to provide the smaller communities with buildings that embodied the style of the Renaissance Revival".



He compared it to The Louvre, Saint Paul's Cathedral, the banqueting house of Whitehall, and the Petit Trianon of Versailles.



The stone parapet and cornice, window separation by use of single ionic pilasters and balastrades below the main floor windows.



The use of coupled ionic pilasters and a roof that cannot be seen from street side.



Historical Markers Crisp County

Blackshear Trail




Looking northeast on Old Albany Road (Georgia Highway 300) toward US Highway 280 and Cordele.

Camp Safety Patrol - Lake Blackshear



Georgia Veterans Memorial State Park




These two markers are on the signage for the State Park.

Capitol of Georgia Site • 1865



Cordele Railway Park

Cordele Railway Park has an observation platform, parking area, and a large green space.


Historic markers detailing the railroad history of Cordele overlook the tracks.



Cordele has a rare type of switch called an interlocking or “Diamond” switch where CSX, Norfolk Southern and Heart of Georgia mainlines all cross one another at one location.


Trains were King in Cordele before I-75 scooted past.

This is an excellent place for railroad fans to watch trains.
         
Americus, Preston and Lumpkin Railroad


         
Atlantic & Birmingham Railway


         
Joseph Emerson Brown


         
Georgia & Albany Railway


         
Georgia Southern & Florida Railroad


         
Georgia Southern & Florida Railway


         
Savannah, Americus & Montgomery Railway


         
Union Depot



Crisp County




Looking south on South 7th Street (US Highway 41) toward 13th Avenue. The courthose was built in 1950, replacing the original 1907 courthouse which had burned. The marker can just be seen at the right edge of the photo.

De Soto Trail - 1540




Marker was at the intersection of South Seventh Street (U.S. 41) and Rose Avenue.

Fort Early



Governor Joseph E. Brown Executive Mansion Site



Spanish-Indian Battle - (1702)



The William Adkins’ Live Oak Tree






The marker stood just to the right of the tree; the site of the cottage is now plowed under (the red dirt).

Titan I Missile





Veterans of Foreign Wars Group Camp



Georgia Veterans Memorial State Park - Camp Safety Patrol




These last two markers are side by side at the State Park.

Communities

Arabi

Arabi is a town in Crisp County, Georgia, United States. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 586.


Most know for remote exit off I-75.

History

The first permanent settlement at Arabi was made in 1888.



According to tradition, the name "Arabi" was coined after a local surname. The town was chartered in 1891.


R. A. Bedgood House and office, 1894, Arabi


Richard Albert Bedgood (13 August 1847-4 February 1904) was the founder and namesake of Arabi, Georgia. Bedgood enlisted in July 1864 in Company G of the 7th Georgia Infantry, Wilcox County.
 
Coney

Coney is an unincorporated community in Crisp County, in the U.S. state of Georgia.

History

An old variant name was "Gum Creek." The Georgia General Assembly incorporated the place as the "Town of Coney" in 1889. The present name most likely is after S. W. Coney, a local judge. A post office called Gum Creek was established in 1851, the name was changed to Coney in 1888, and the post office closed in 1915. By 1900, Coney had 77 inhabitants. The town's municipal charter was dissolved in 1995.


Only this overgrown General Store in Coney now.

Coney was once a busy rail siding and was also the location of a ferry that crossed the nearby Flint River (long before Lake Blackshear was formed).
   
Cordele (county seat)

Cordele is a city in and the county seat of Crisp County, Georgia, United States. The population was 11,147 at the 2010 census.


City hall, main drag.

Cordele calls itself the Watermelon Capital of the World.

History

Cordele was incorporated on January 1, 1888, and named for Cordelia Hawkins, eldest daughter of Colonel Samuel Hawkins, the president of the Savannah, Americus and Montgomery Railway.





In November 1864, the area that is now Cordele served as the temporary capital of Georgia. During the last days of the Confederacy, Georgia's war governor Joseph E. Brown used his rural farmhouse to escape the wrath of Sherman's March to the Sea. During that time, the farmhouse, which Brown called "Dooly County Place," served as the official capital for only a few days. It was replaced in 1890 by the Suwanee Hotel, located in what became downtown Cordele. The hotel was destroyed by a fire in late 1994 and was rebuilt.


Sections of historic Cordele have been razed.

Cordele was founded in 1888 by J.E.D. Shipp of Americus.


Sections cry for renovation.

The town was located at the junction of two major railroads – the Savannah, Americus & Montgomery line, and the Georgia Southern & Florida. As the railroads brought more people and business to the newly settled territory, Cordele experienced phenomenal growth.


Signs of life.

Before 1905 Cordele was located in southern Dooly County, 9 miles from the county seat in Vienna. With Cordele's continued progress, many in the community felt the need for a seat of government to be closer than Vienna. Crisp County was formed in 1905 by taking a portion of southern Dooly County, and Cordele became its county seat.



The old courthouse was a lot prettier than the new courthouse.



Sports

Cordele is home to Crisp Motorsports Park, a 3/8-mile asphalt oval.



It is home to the annual pre-season race known as SpeedFest, which is sanctioned by the Champion Racing Association (CRA) organization and run in late January.


All types racing Cordele.

The event features a 125-lap race for the CRA Jegs All-Star Tour (crate late models) and a 200-lap race for the ARCA/CRA Super Series (super late models).

Notable people

Buster Brown, blues and R&B singer born in Cordele.



Riley Shepard Brown, a writer of detective stories and other works, is from Cordele. He published two books, Men, Wind, and the Sea: The Story of the Coast Guard (1939) and Stringfellow of the Fourth (1960), and later wrote a weekly column for the Courier-Post in New Jersey.


   
T. Graham Brown, country music singer.


   
Preston Dennard, former wide receiver for the Los Angeles Rams.



Janie Lou Gibbs, serial killer who poisoned her husband, three sons, and grandson. She was convicted in 1967.



Mac Hyman, fiction writer known for his best-selling novel No Time for Sergeants (1954) and Take Now Thy Son; was born in Cordele in 1923 and was a lifelong resident.



T. J. Jackson, Olympian and NFL wide receiver.


   
Marcus Lamb, president of international Christian TV network Daystar.


   
Arthur Lucas, convicted murderer and one of the last two people to be executed in Canada.


Two of the Notable people of Crisp County were made crispy in electric chairs.
   
Deworski Odom, sprinter; born in Cordele.


   
Jody Powell, served as the White House Press Secretary under President Jimmy Carter; born in Cordele.



Alfred Rawls from Pitts Georgia.


I was at the 2016 UGA Kentucky game in Lexington with family. Set up program display and all sorts of folks visiting tailgate. Man wanted to see 88 program and I proceeded to tell him how I remembered that game, all about how Alfred Rawls transferred from UGA to UK and broke our hearts with 60 yard run to knock Vince Dooley's last team from share of SEC championship with Auburn and so on and so on for another 30 seconds, and you guessed it....It was Alfred Rawls. Me giving him fist with his "I'm from Pitts, Georgia" sticker.
   
Andre Ramsey, offensive lineman for the Buffalo Bills.


   
Tree Rollins, former Clemson and Atlanta Hawk basketball player and Cordele native who attended Crisp County High School.


TREEEEEEEEE!!!!
   
Joe Williams was born in Cordele in 1918 and went on to sing with Count Basie’s big band from 1954 until 1961. He then performed until the 1990s with other bands, in club routines, in movies, and on television variety shows. Williams recorded forty albums over his career and finished first-place for five consecutive years in Down Beat magazine’s polls of international critics (1974-78). He also played the part of Grandpa Al in the television comedy The Cosby Show.


   
Noel Williams Jr. - Insurance agent and politician.


   
Deborah Woodson, singer and author; born in Cordele.



Well I guess the message too large is only for the text. I used 250 images for today's post and still squeezed it all in. Today's Georgia Natural Wonder Gals are all tied to Crisp Bacon.