High Falls State Park and Indian Springs State Park

High Falls State Park is located about 30 minutes south of Atlanta and and 15 minutes east of Griffin. It is easy to get to and makes a great place for a Saturday afternoon picnic.

After you've digested, I will tell you the history of High Falls State Park. The area around High Falls is called Towaliga. It is a Creek Indian name for "Roasted Scalp." The story is that in the early 1800's some Creek warriors had massacred settlers and during their travels back to their camp, they found that the scalps were beginning to spoil. So, at the creek at High Falls, they stopped to build fires and smoke their war trophies. Alrighty then...

The park is small and easy to see in a few hours.


That gave us time to head over to Indian Springs State Park.

Indian Springs is the oldest state park in the nation. Since 1825 visitors have been coming to the area to get mineral water from this famous medicinal spring. Here is the spring house now. Notice all the jugs lined up in queue. People still come here to get water to take home. They didn't look particularly healthy or have any super powers, but maybe they were 120 years old and just looked 50 and grumpy.

Indian Springs also has a connection to Creek Indians. An illegal treaty was signed here by Chief McIntosh in 1825 ceding southwestern Georgia for an equal exchange of acreage west of the Mississippi River plus $400,00.00. The Creek Indians didn't particularly like their Chief selling off their lands and the Chief of the Upper Creeks, Hopoethleyoholo, yelled through the window that Chief McIntosh would be killed for signing the treaty. Within three months a group of Creeks did, indeed, murder Chief McIntosh.

There are many rustic and beautiful stone building at Indian Springs. They were built by FDR's Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930's. It's a beautiful little park and worth the visit.





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