Elijah Clark State Park in Georgia

Things came to an end in Wild Wonderful West Virginia and it was time to head further south to Georgia.  On the way we detoured through Denver NC and stopped for one night at Cross Country Campground (LINK) to visit friends we met on a cruise a few years ago.  Three hundred seventy seven sites at the campground and when I called to make a reservation they had ONE site open!  It seems there are several seasonal campers in the park but the bigger factor was a maintenance project ongoing at the Duke nuclear power plant a few miles up the road.  The park was full with the maintenance guys that travel in their RV following the jobs.  This is one of those things it is very difficult to plan for in finding accommodations, so flexibility is the key word!  The park itself is OK with standard size sites and amenities.  There seems to be a lot activities but just being there one night, I didn't get to see very much.  I can say at a minimum it is adequate for a one night stop.

It seems our friends had an ulterior motive for asking us to stop by - They also wanted to pick our brains on Rving!  And we were happy to share what we've learned and offer support and advice to help them along.  I think Gary sitting in the captain's chair might have helped a little.  He looks like he belongs there!  It would be great to spend some time on the road with these folks if they decide to start RVing.

Bonnie and Gary

I think the Captain's chair fit him well!

Our next stop was back in Georgia at Elijah Clark State Park (LINK).  This park is located on the western (Georgia) side of 71,000 acre Clark Hill reservoir.  The park itself is 447 acres with 20 cottages and 165 campsites located in two different loops.  Many sites have 50/30/20 amp electric and water, cable tv,  but no sewer.  Most sites also have at least a view of the lake and a good many of them on right on the water.  The park is very big rig friendly.  

Elijah Clark State Park is named after a Revolutionary War hero.  Elijah entered the militia as a Colonel and rose to the rank of Brigadier General based on performance in several strategic battles against the Tories.  He and his wife Hannah lived in their small log houses about ten miles north of the park entrance in an area which is now buried under the lake.  For some reason the descendants didn't want the original homes relocated but local historians built reproductions and saved artifacts from the site.  This museum is now located in the park and on weekends the museum curator is there in period garb to give information about the family and their way of life.  General Clark, his wife Hannah, and several of their family member's graves were relocated from the original home site to Lincoln Ga. in 1952 before the lake was filled.  They were then moved again in 1955 to a site within the park.  

Elijah was considered wealthy in his time.  The small house in the rear is where he and Hannah lived with the first four of their 8 children.  Later a much larger house was built to accommodate the growing family of 10.

The breeze way in the middle of the large house was the 1700's equivalent of air conditioning.  While I was standing there talking to the curator, a nice breeze was keeping us cool.

Notice the small rectangular hole in the wall between the windows.  There were several of these in the exterior walls.  They are ports through which the family could shoot at hostile Indians that lived in the area.  Life was tough in the 1700's!

One sign of the family's wealth is this room dedicated to Hannah's sewing.  Indoor space was difficult and expensive to build and having an entire room designated to sewing was almost unheard of.

The large house had three bedrooms upstairs

A period bed complete with hay filled mattress and rope supports is on display.  This is where the sayings "Hit the Hay" and "Sleep Tight" came from.  Tight ropes were necessary for a good nights sleep.

A reproduction of a typical dining table from this time.

The craftsmen that reproduced these cabins did an excellent job using the manual tools and labor of the day.  Notice the dovetail joinery in the logs.  Again, this was a more time consuming building method and was a reflection of the family's wealth.  The original chinking between the logs has been replaced with a more durable material than the original clay, horse hair, and straw mixture.

The Clark family's final resting place.

This is really a great park with many activities in a beautiful setting.  Diane and I liked it so much we decided to accept a camp host position for a minimum of two months to see how we like the work, so we'll be parked for a while.  Stay tuned for the inside info on camp hosting!

Bill