From fishing and boating to golf and camping, Lake Walter F. George offers a wide assortment of family activities. Area festivals and special events near the lake include Fourth of July and holiday celebrations.

State Parks Offer Wide Range of Activities

George T. Bagby State Park and Lodge has an 18-hole championship golf course
for the whole family, plus a convention center, restaurant, cottages, marine and gas dock, tennis courts and picnic areas. The park has three miles of hiking trails and canoe, fishing boat and pontoon boat rentals.

Florence Marina State Park at the north end of Lake Walter F. George offers boating, swimming and boat rental, camping and miniature golf. The Kirbo Interpretive Center teaches visitors about the area’s Native American history, nature and local history. It displays artifacts from the pre-historic Paleo-Indian period through the early 20th century. Tour of the Rood Creek Indian Mounds and Fort McCreary are also available.

Nearby attractions include Providence Canyon State Conservation Park, a massive natural canyon with breathtaking colors. Known as Georgia’s Little Grand Canyon, the park has a variety of wildlife. and many hiking trails. Visitors can enjoy views of the canyons from the rim trail, and backpackers who set off before 4 p.m. can stay overnight along the backcountry trail. Camping and cottages are available nearby at Florence Marina State Park. An interpretive center explains how the massive gullies (the deepest being 150 feet) were caused by erosion due to poor farming practices in the 1800s.

Attractions and Features

Frontier Life, 1850s Towns Attract Visitors
On the eastern shore of Lake Walter F. George, Fort Gaines has a Frontier Village, located on a high bluff above the Chattahoochee River. This historic spot served as a frontier fort in 1814, and Indian fort in 1836 and a Confederate fort in 1863. Highlights include a historic cemetery, a Civil War cannon and a giant wood-carved statue of a Creek Indian Chief. Inside the city limits is the legendary Dill House, built in the 1820s.

Sixteen miles east of the lake, the town of Lumpkin was once a popular stagecoach stop. In addition to festivals during the year, the town is home to the Bedingfield Inn museum. Enjoy shopping, antiquing and historic exploration.

The 1850s town of Westville recreates the life of South Georgians 150 years ago. Spring and fall festivals showcase the 35 structures that predate the 19850s. It’s one of the best collections of antebellum architecture in the state. Historic Westville features fiddling contests, ongoing arts and crafts demonstrations and baseball 1850s-style every other weekend in the summer.