GENERAL COFFEE and JEFFERSON DAVIS May 7-9, 2015

While reading about Georgia parks along our route I was so surprised to find a Groupon offer for a  nearby park, General Coffee State park just outside of Douglas, Ga. The parks have wonderful websites listing all kinds of activities in the upcoming weeks from Ranger walks to moonlight guided canoe rides or festivals held in the park. I've learned to spend time reading the info page for each park and it was there I found a two nights-for-one Groupon for camping. Since we were heading that way, it was an easy decision. 

The park was donated to the state by a group of Coffee County citizens in 1970 and is named after General John Coffee, a planter, US Congressman and military leader.  But today the park is known for its Heritage Farm showing the agricultural history of the area. The farm is complete with a tobacco barn, corn crib and cane mill as well as a whole farmyard full of animals.  The afternoon we walked over to see the farm it was late in the day and a ranger was out feeding the animals. Fun to watch! Besides camping the park also has cottages to rent and the Burnham House which is an elegantly decorated 19th century cabin. I'm constantly amazed at the quality of each park we find.

The Seventeen-Mile River and a boardwalk run right through the middle of the park.  Not having seen it we asked if it would be a good kayak area but the ranger just chuckled and said it probably wouldn't be the best, a little too wooded and very little water.  She was sure right! It was more like a cypress swamp than a river, but a wonderful walk.

The lake at the park also has canoes to rent and allows fishing.

After our first day we packed up our bikes and drove into Douglas for an early ride along the Douglas Trail, a multi-use paved trail built atop the old Georgia-Florida Railroad. It's only a three mile ride, but passes through the the campus of South Georgia College and the old train depot, now the Heritage Station Museum.  We were too early for a visit, maybe next time.

Back at the park we took one of the nature hikes from the campground hoping we'd actually see a gopher tortoise out for a still...but all we found was this sign.

I guess we were still ahead of the summer campers, the campground had only a handful of sites filled and one entire loop of campsites closed off. It didn't even fill up on the weekend. We had a pull through site, #38 with a beautiful view of the woods and creek.

After our two night stay it was time to move a little further north.  Along our route to Georgia Veteran's State Park we stopped to see the Jefferson Davis Memorial Historic Site.  It just happened to be the day of the 150th anniversary of the capture of Jefferson Davis on May 3, 1865. He was taken prisoner here and held in Virginia till released.

They were celebrating the event with a mini marathon along the nearby trail which was just ending and shooting off the cannon every half hour, it made for a fun hour visit.

We were probably the biggest vehicle to come through that gate that day, we were just happy we were able to get us turned around and back out again and onto our next park.