Georgia State Parks|Travel

5/31/2025 Etowah Mounds NHL. Three main mounds and three lesser known mounds were built and occupied in three phases, from 1000–1550 CE by Native Americans of the Mississippian culture. Also Etowah Indian Mounds State Historic Site. We took a nice walk around the mound area, with Ken climbing the stairs up one, and me up another, for some fun photos of each other.

The park sign ...

... and VC

Ken photos ...

... the NHL plaque

A nice diorama ...

... with great detail

The large, well-formed mounds

Ken's view from one

Signage showing ...

... mound ceremonies

Me doing ...

... my impression

The stairs up my mound ...

... with a great view

Checking out ...

... Ken on his mound

Pointing out a tiny flower ...

... and a close-up

Another little guy ...

... yellow this time

One more pretty one

3/25/2023 Not very far away we entered Pine Mountain State Park NHL, this former state park being in the western portion of the larger F. D. Roosevelt State Park. It is notable because of the well-preserved CCC design, layout, and buildings of the western half of the park, and for its association with F. D. Roosevelt. Just some photos by the pretty lake here, checking out the many campers and boaters.

The park sign

Nice 360

Beautiful panorama ...

... with mirrored clouds

Me and Ken by the lake

4/20/2024 Drove south a little over an hour to Warm Springs for a return visit to the Little White House SHS, arriving 9 minutes after opening. While trying to get through the nice museum fairly briskly, I was getting stories from a helpful ranger about many pieces in the collection, but eventually moved on, being more interested in the home itself. Walking on the nice grounds I headed down to the very attractive Little White House FDR had constructed. I got a really nice personal tour from an older woman who described the design and furnishings of the home FDR came to many times, and where he died. They had the actual chair and table he worked at, and where he collapsed while having his portrait done, as well as the bed he died in. The influence of FDR’s love of the sea was obvious, from a large portrait of John Paul Jones to many beautiful ship models. In a separate building I saw the unfinished watercolor portrait from when he died, and the oil painting the artist Elizabeth Shoumatoff later completed.

The park sign ...

... and state info

Impressive greeting banner

1940 Willys Roadster and Willy

Cool stagecoach "Tally-Ho"

1938 Ford Convertible

Info about Warm Springs

One of FDR's braces

Some of FDR's many canes

Map of the grounds

The guard house flanking the path

Little White House

A little closer

A commemorative plaque

Some views ...

... of the beautiful interior

FDR's chair and working table ...

... and him in it

Back deck shaped like a ship's prow

FDR's bed, where he died

Wheelchair for the house

The watercolor ...

... "unfishished portrait" ...

... and the later, final ...

... oil painting

5/31/2025 New Echota NHL. Named in honor of their former chief town of Chota, based along the lower Little Tennessee River, this was the capital of the Cherokee Nation from 1825 until their forced removal in the late 1830s. Also New Echota State Historic Site and NPS ToT NHT site; for the latter we saw route signs as we approached the park. We walked along what had been the streets of the town, checking out the existing and reconstructed buildings of the large Cherokee Nation capital.

The park sign

Ken photos ...

... interpretive signage

Cherokee Indian Memorial ...

... and ToT signage

Ken photos ...

... the NHL plaque

A view of part of the town

More interpretive signage

A farmstead house outside ...

... and inside

Vann Tavern

Supreme Courthouse

Council House outside ...

... and inside

Nice construction detail

Cool patterns ...

... in the logs

5/9/1996 ... continued on, a bit out of the way to Tallulah Gorge State Park. Here we hiked a ways (about 3/4 mile) to some overlooks into the gorge - very high, a pretty site.