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Barrow County
In 1971, the Will-A-Way Recreation Area was opened to provide a 250-bed group camping facility focused on special needs populations. The facility still serves to meet the needs for a variety of groups ranging from Special Olympics to mental and physical disabilities. Today, Fort Yargo State Park provides recreational opportunities to 400,000 visitors each year. With a lake and rolling pine/hardwood forest, it has become a valued greenspace in a sea of development around metro Atlanta. |
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style="float: left; padding: 10px;" border="0">Fort Yargo State Park lies in the area that was the border between the Creek and Cherokee nations in the 1700s. The state of Georgia contracted with the Humphrey brothers to build a string of four forts across north Georgia to protect white settlers from Indians. In 1792, Fort Yargo was constructed and remains today. In the 1950s, C.O. Maddox of the People's Bank of Winder asked five men from the Kiwanis Club and five men from the Lion's Club to assist him in establishing a state park to encompass Fort Yargo. With assistance from Senator Richard B. Russell, 1,497 acres were donated to the state in 1954. Other lands were then acquired to bring the acreage total to 1,814. In the early 1960s, a 260-acre lake was added, along with many recreational facilities.