Special Attractions and Features

With its setting along the borders of Georgia and South Carolina south of J. Strom Thurmond Lake at Clarks Hill, Richard B. Russell Lake and Dam offers a quiet setting for fishing, camping, boating and enjoying nature. Hiking trails and parks lure visitors to its shores to experience wildlife in natural habitats.

State Park Offers Camping, Golf and Water Sports
Located on a 26,500-acre lake, Richard B. Russell State Park offers some of the states finest fishing and boating. The parks campground and fully equipped cottages are located on or near the waters edge for a relaxing getaway. A nature trail follows the shoreline to one of the oldest steel pin bridges in the area, loops through the adjoining woods and returns to the beach. A new 18-hole golf course is under construction. Several Indian sites were excavated near the park in 1980 before the lake was filled, indicating that Paleo-Indians lived in the area more than 10,000 years ago. This area is now called Ruckers Bottom and lies deep within the waters of Lake Richard B. Russell.

The park offers Frisbee golf, boating, fishing, waterskiing, rowing, canoe and pedal-boat rentals, beach volleyball, swimming, bicycling and hiking.

Museums, Shopping and Events
The nearest town, Elberton, has a variety of attractions. The Elberton Granite Museum and Exhibit features exciting historical exhibits, artifacts and educational displays. Three tiers of self-guided exhibits allow visitors to see unique granite products as well as antique granite-working tools used in the quarrying, sawing, polishing, cutting and sandblasting of granite cemetery memorials. Elberton’s downtown square reflects the early history of the area with its old courthouse and picturesque fountain. Shoppers can explore local merchants on the square or have a quick lunch at one of the area’s restaurants. The Granite Bowl where local high schools compete in football on Friday nights is worth a visit. It’s reminiscent of a natural amphitheater, with granite seats and a rustic look.

Just outside Elberton on Highway 77, one of the Southeast’s mysterious treasures – the Georgia Guidestones – is installed in a cow pasture on a hilltop. Sometimes referred to as “America’s Stonehenge,” the four 19-foot towering granite stones offer advice in eight languages on how to conserve mankind and the earth. They were commissioned in the late 1970s by a mysterious stranger representing an out-of-state group. To this day, people have never been able to discover the man’s true identity, although he worked with a local granite company to create the guidestones and paid for them through an area bank.

Elberton hosts a Forsythia festival each spring to celebrate the golden-yellow shrub that dots the landscape.

The legendary “Old Dan Tucker,” subject of the popular folk song, was a native of Elberton, preached there and worked as a ferryman. His grave is in Elbert County.