Laura S. Walker State Park is a state park in the U.S. state of

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. Located near

Hoboken Hoboken ( ; Unami: ') is a city in Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 60,417. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 58,69 ...

and the

Okefenokee Swamp The Okefenokee Swamp is a shallow, 438,000-acre (177,000 ha), peat-filled wetland straddling the Georgia–Florida line in the United States. A majority of the swamp is protected by the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge and the Okefenokee ...

, the park is named after Laura S. Walker, a Georgia writer, teacher, civic leader, and naturalist (she is most famous as the latter). The park's location near the Okefenokee makes it home to many exotic plant and animal species, including

alligator An alligator is a large reptile in the Crocodilia order in the genus ''Alligator'' of the family Alligatoridae. The two extant species are the American alligator (''A. mississippiensis'') and the Chinese alligator (''A. sinensis''). Additiona ...

s, great blue herons, and

pitcher plant Pitcher plants are several different carnivorous plants which have modified leaves known as pitfall traps—a prey-trapping mechanism featuring a deep cavity filled with digestive liquid. The traps of what are considered to be "true" pitcher p ...

s. The park includes a lake and a championship 18-hole

golf course A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup". ...

with a

pro shop A pro shop is a sporting-goods shop within a public or private-membership amateur sporting activities facility of some kind, most commonly a golf course, where it will typically be located in the country club building. In the case of golf pro s ...

History

In the 1930s an effort was made to recognize

Waycross, Georgia Waycross is the county seat of, and only incorporated city in, Ware County in the U.S. state of Georgia. The population was 14,725 at the 2010 Census and dropped to 13,942 in the 2020 census. Waycross includes two historic districts (Downtown ...

, conservationist Laura S. Walker for her work promoting forestry and other civic activities. At the urging of Georgia's senators, President

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

issued a proclamation to establish the Laura S. Walker National Park in her honor. She was the only living person for whom a state or national park was named. In 1937, the federal government purchased distressed farmland for the park under a federal land utilization program authorized by the Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant Act. Work on the park was undertaken by the

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...

and the

Civilian Conservation Corps The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was a major part of ...

. In 1941, the national park was deeded over to Georgia, becoming the state's 13th state park.

Facilities

*42 Tent/Trailer/ RV Campsites *6 Cottages *7 Picnic Shelters *4 Group Shelters *1 Group Camp *1 Pioneer Campground *Swimming Beach *Kayak Rentals *Bicycle Rentals

Gallery

Laura S. Walker State Park tent and trailer campsites.jpg, Tent and trailer campsites Laura S. Walker State Park picnic shelter 6.jpg, Picnic shelter Laura S. Walker State Park group shelter 3 4.jpg, Group shelter Laura S. Walker State Park Lake Laura east side swimming area.jpg, Swimming area Laura S. Walker State Park kayak and paddle board rack.jpg, Kayak and paddle board rentals

Annual events

*Okefenokee 10K Race (March)

References

External links

Laura S. Walker State ParkU.S. Geological Survey Map
at the U.S. Geological Survey Map Website. Retrieved January 8th, 2022. {{Authority control State parks of Georgia (U.S. state) Protected areas of Ware County, Georgia