Providence Canyon State Outdoor Recreation Area is a
Georgia state park located in
Stewart County in southwest
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 ...
, United States.
The park contains Providence Canyon, which is sometimes called Georgia's "Little
Grand Canyon
The Grand Canyon (, yuf-x-yav, Wi:kaʼi:la, , Southern Paiute language: Paxa’uipi, ) is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is long, up to wide and attains a depth of over a m ...
". It is considered one of the
Seven Natural Wonders of Georgia. It is also home to the very rare
plumleaf azalea
''Rhododendron prunifolium'', the plumleaf azalea, is a wild azalea that grows only in a few counties along the Georgia–Alabama border in the Chattahoochee River Valley. It is considered the rarest azalea in the Eastern United States. Providence ...
.
One of the quirkier attractions of the state park is an abandoned homestead including nearly a dozen rusty, 1950s-era cars and trucks. Due to the environmental damage that removing the vehicles would cause, park officials have decided to leave them alone.
Canyon formation
Providence Canyon is not actually a purely natural feature—many of the massive
gullies
A gully is a landform created by running water, mass movement, or commonly a combination of both eroding sharply into soil or other relatively erodible material, typically on a hillside or in river floodplains or terraces. Gullies resemble lar ...
—the deepest of which is more than — are the result of erosion due to poor farming practices in the 19th century.
This story of the origin of the canyons has been commonplace since the 1940s, but the formations in the canyons are at least partially natural. Although there were probably a few early arrivals before 1825, the first heavy influx of settlers in Stewart County only came after the
Treaty of Indian Springs (1825)
The Treaty of Indian Springs, also known as the Second Treaty of Indian Springs and the Treaty with the Creeks, is a treaty concluded between the Muscogee and the United States on February 12, 1825 at what is now the Indian Springs Hotel Museum ...
, by which the
Creek Indians were forced to cede all their lands east of the
Chattahoochee River
The Chattahoochee River forms the southern half of the Alabama and Georgia border, as well as a portion of the Florida - Georgia border. It is a tributary of the Apalachicola River, a relatively short river formed by the confluence of the Chatta ...
. Evidence of the existence of the canyons at this time includes their mention in a deed by James S. Lunsford to William Tatam from 1836.
Geology
The park lies on marine sediments, usually loamy or clayey, with small areas of sand. Loamy sand topsoils overlie subsoils of sandy clay loam, sandy clay, or clay in most of the uneroded sections. Nankin, Cowarts, Mobila, and Orangeburg are the most prominent soil series. The canyons have significant exposure to clay, over which water often seeps. Water is mobile in this well-drained area.
Facilities
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* 2 picnic shelters
* 6 back country campsites
* 3 pioneer campsites
Yearly events
* Christmas Workshop (December)
* Astronomy Night (September)
* Fall Wildflower Day (October)
* Geology Day (October)
Images
Image:15 15 173 providence canyon.jpg, Entrance sign
Image:15 08 118 providence canyon.jpg, Providence Methodist Church
Image:16_07_001_providence_canyon.jpg, Interior of Providence Methodist Church
Image:15 08 154 providence canyon.jpg, View from canyon rim
Image:Providence Canyon floor.jpg, View from the canyon floor
Image:15 27 0250 providence canyon.jpg, Informational sign
See also
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Red Bluff, Mississippi
References
Further reading
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Canyons and gorges of Georgia (U.S. state)
State parks of Georgia (U.S. state)
Seven Natural Wonders of Georgia (U.S. state)
Protected areas of Stewart County, Georgia
Landforms of Stewart County, Georgia