FDR State Park – 203

04.09.26-04.12.26

FDR State Park is located southwest of Atlanta in Pine Mountain, GA. It is Georgia’s largest state
park, over 9,000 acres and plenty of trails to hike. For a History/Nature lover like me, this park is a
dream. The most popular spot is an overlook that President Franklin D. Roosevelt often used for a
picnic, called Dowdell’s Knob. The overlook has a life-size bronze sculpture of FDR sitting on a
bench and taking in the valley. Nearby is a stone grill that he built for picnics.

There are multiple historical sites at the park that FDR had the Civil Conservation Corps build during the Great Depression. The Liberty Bell Pool is a fan favorite, but only open during the summer months. Even the park office is a history lesson in itself, but also the views behind the building are AMAZING.

The campground has 115 tent and RV sites with water and electrical hookups, some located
around a small lake (Lake Delano). The lake is great for fishing or kayaking. At the boat house you
can rent a canoe, kayak, Jon boat, or aqua cycle. There are three playgrounds spread around the
campground and a wooden amphitheater where we heard the Nearly Normal String Band play on
Saturday evening.

FDR State Park campground is split up into four sections for tents and RV, not including the cabins that are located on the lake. Friendly camp hosts can be found sprinkled throughout the campground. We visited the well stocked trading post throughout the trip, but on two different occasions missed the
closing time—5 p.m. for both shops and 8 p.m. for ice from the camp host.

We stayed in the 500 loop back in 2017, our first year with the camper. This loop would be preferred by our family as far as the campsites go, but it is further away from everything in the campground. When our trip was booked this year the 500 loop was almost completely full, being Spring Break for most of Georgia.

We lucked out and found a great campsite available, site 203. The site is a large pull-thru, with a view of the lake beyond two other campsites. The gravel driveway is long enough for 2 or 3 vehicles plus the camper. The campsite gets a lot of sun throughout the day, so we used our pop-up tent as well as the awning. Campsite 203 is a level site, unlike many others in the 200 loop.

The only negative about this campsite at FDR State Park is the traffic that comes by. The site is open to the road and made for a great area for our kids to ride bikes back and forth from a few sites up to the end of our site, with an adult standing lookout. We taught our kids (6 and 2 years old) to move off the road a couple feet and stop moving when a car comes, but many people were driving way too fast in the campground.

Loop 200 is further in the woods than the other campground loops and the road seems to be
falling away at many points. We had concerns about pulling out of our campsite, navigating the
trees and the narrow road. Heather did a great job getting us out though. A person in the campsite
next to us did not see a large drop off between campsite 203 and 202. She backed out of campsite
202 and dropped her front wheel into a large hole and then managed to pull through putting her
back tire in it. We couldn’t believe our eyes that it happened and she got out without any visual
problems to her car.

My parents rented cottage 4 for the weekend, a one-bedroom located near the visitors center.
The cottage was not walkable distance to the campground, so we did much more driving this
weekend than we usually do. Their cottage had everything they needed, plus a good view!

We spent a lot of time biking in the campground at FDR State Park, walking over to the lake to see the turtles; fish; and toads; and enjoying the campfires. Only ventured onto the trails for one hike. Saturday morning we walked the Delano Trail around 200 loop, about one mile long. There were some elevation changes, but a great hike in the woods.

Callaway Gardens

FDR State Park is located down the road from Callaway Gardens. Callaway Gardens offers lodging
options, a huge golf course, spa services, and water sports on the lake. Admission into the park was $25 per adult. We spent the morning at Callaway Gardens as my parents had never been before. Starting at the Butterfly Garden we moved throughout the large campus to see the reptiles, but missed the Birds of Prey show, played at the playground, and explored the chapel.

The gardens are spread apart, so it became a bit of a hassle to get in and out of the car to see everything. Lots of people brought their electric bikes to ride around and the park does offer golf cart rentals, for a price of course. There are wooded picnic areas with parking, you can bring your own lunch or eat at the cafes offered.

Little White House

Just down the road (20 minutes of mountain road) from the campground you can visit the Little
White House to see where FDR received his treatment for polio and lived in Warm Springs. The fee is $12 per adult to tour the house that has been made into a museum. This is not a FDR state park location, but a Georgia Historic site and requires that specific pass. We enjoyed touring the house, seeing the unfinished portrait, but missed the historic pools due to it being closed for renovations.

Since we were already in Warm Springs and my dad saw a sign for a fish hatchery, we drove
over to it to explore for a couple minutes. We couldn’t believe the size of the fish! There was a small museum and plenty of walkways to explore, with zero entry fee.

Thursday evening we ate dinner at Fox’s Pizza Den close to downtown Pine Mountain. They had
$2 bottled beer on Thursday evening and we enjoyed the pizza. Would recommend it! Heather
drove downtown to Chipley Cycle on Saturday morning to have our six-year-old’s tire replaced. The man working at the shop was friendly and helpful. It was nice to have a bike shop located so close to the state park and gardens.

We had one more night left in our free camping nights with Friends of Georgia State Parks. My
parents also received 10% off their cottage rental with the pass. Highly recommend getting one of
these memberships since all the money goes back to the parks and there are plenty of benefits for
us. They have even given us a discount code to share with our followers! Use code Imaginecamper26 to get $10 off your pass, including the senior discounted Friends of Georgia State Parks pass.