6 Great American National Parks in Georgia

Explore Georgia's national parks, which range from historic sites and monuments to a popular riverside recreation area and a storied seashore.

Georgia is home to a plethora of National Park Service sites, including dozens of historic and natural landmarks, legendary trails, significant heritage areas, and thousands of properties on the National Register of Historic Places. Explore Georgia state historic sites throughout the state, and delve into America's past by visiting land and landmarks that preserve the stories of people and places for future generations to enjoy.

From the Chattahoochee River, one of Georgia's most important ecological and economic assets, to the pristine seashore on Cumberland Island, here are six National Park Service sites in Georgia to add to your bucket list.

Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area

The Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area, the state's most visited national park, is metro Atlanta's playground, encompassing 48 winding miles of river from Buford Dam at Lake Lanier to its confluence with Peachtree Creek just west of the city. In 2019, over 3.3 million people visited the recreation area to kayak, canoe, fish, float, or simply stroll the paths or picnic on one of the park's 15 riverside parcels of shoreline.

Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park

A visit to the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park, located just east of downtown Atlanta in the city's Sweet Auburn historic district, allows for reflection and, yes, dreaming. The park includes King's birth home (sign up for a tour of the two-story Queen Anne-style house at the visitor center), historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, and King's final resting place at the King Center.

Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park

This new national historical park, located about 100 miles south of Atlanta and just east of downtown Macon, transports visitors back thousands of years — 14,000 years, in fact. Visitors to Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park can walk in the footsteps of Paleo-Indians on eight miles of walking trails.

They can ascend the later Mississippian culture's social and ceremonial earthen mounds. They can also visit a reconstruction of one of the complex's more recent additions: a 1,000-year-old earthen lodge with its original floor.

Jimmy Carter National Historic Site

President Carter's childhood home, just outside Plains, is an excellent place to start your tour of the Jimmy Carter National Historic Site. The Plains High School museum and the historical train depot are also part of the site. Carter's recorded reminiscences of his childhood bring to life the Sears, Roebuck mail-order house where he grew up, as well as other structures such as the family-run commissary.

Continue on to his and Mrs. Carter's high school and take a photo at the replica Resolute desk Carter used during his time in the Oval Office. Then visit the depot, which served as Carter's presidential campaign headquarters in 1976.

Fort Frederica National Monument

Wandering around Fort Frederica National Monument provides both a glimpse into Georgia's colonial history and an opportunity to take in what continues to make this area magical — the river, the marsh, the tides, and the unrivaled beauty of St. Simons Island. While the fort was important in Georgia's history — the 1742 victory of British troops over Spanish soldiers secured Georgia's future as a British colony — what remains is mostly underground.

You'll want to find a ranger to get a true sense of the garrison and what makes this peace monument unique.

Cumberland Island National Seashore

Cumberland Island, Georgia's southernmost barrier island, is more than sand and sea. It has 18 miles of unspoiled beach and acres of breathtaking natural beauty.

Visitors can walk through the ruins of the Dungeness mansion and tour the 22,000-square-foot Plum Orchard Mansion, both of which were built by the Carnegie family in the early twentieth century.