Richard B. Russell State Park
Featuring a 26,650-acre lake, this park offers great opportunities for boating, fishing, and swimming. Give the 18-hole Arrowhead Pointe Golf Course a try as it sits on the peninsula, offering superb lake views. Head to the rowing area and enjoy canoeing or pedal boating. Six miles of hiking and biking trails circle the area, including a trail that follows the shoreline to an old steel pin bridge.
Richard B. Russell State Park
2650 Russell State Park Drive
Elberton, GA 30635
(706) 213-2045
gastateparks.org/info/richbruss/
Bobby Brown State Park
Named after Lt. Robert T. Brown, who died in World War II, this park was formerly the town site of Petersburg, an old plantation town that flourished in the late 1700's. Now a superb recreational area, the Broad and Savannah Rivers meet at the quiet 70,000-acre Clarks Hill Reservoir, offering great fishing, boating, water skiing and other water recreation opportunities. Watch for the foundations of the old town when water levels get low; or hike and explore the area on the short trails surrounding the lake.
Bobby Brown State Park
2509 Bobby Brown State Park
Elberton, GA 30635
(706) 359-3458
gastateparks.org/info/bobbybrown/
Nancy Hart Cabin
A replica of the cabin once built by Nancy Hart, a Revolutionary War spy who captured and killed several Tories at her cabin, offers a glimpse into life in the 1700s. Built near the Broad River, the one-room cabin features Georgia pine tree logs, along with short doors and wooden shutters similar to the way cabins were built in the old days. Hike to the spring a half mile from the log cabin near Wahatchee Creek, from which the Hart family gathered water each day.
Old Dan Tucker Gravesite
For more of the area's history, explore Reverend Daniel Tucker's burial site off of Highway 72, east of Elberton, on a bluff looking over Lake Russell. One of the area's best-known residents, Tucker was born in 1740 and served as a Captain in the Revolutionary War, before taking up farming along the Savannah River. Tucker also ferried people across the Savannah River before bridges were constructed. Tucker was also known for teaching the local slave population, who in turn created the famous folk music song "Old Man Tucker." He died in 1818.
