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Tucked along a bend in the Chattahoochee River between Newnan and Carrollton, McIntosh Reserve is both scenic and historic ground.

In the heart of the park is the grave of William McIntosh. This half-Scot Creek Indian chief, who fought alongside Gen. Andrew Jackson at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in 1814, was allowed to keep this scenic parcel of land for his services in negotiating the Treaty of Indian Springs in 1825. By the terms of this treaty, the Creeks were forced to cede all their ancestral lands in Georgia to the state. McIntosh was considered by many Creeks a traitor to his people and was murdered at the reserve three months later.

Owned for nearly a century by Georgia Power but never developed, the reserve was donated to Carroll County and opened to the public in 1984. Today, nearly a dozen miles of foot and horse trails wind along the riverbanks, past the site of McIntosh's ferry landing; beneath the boulders of Council Bluff, where Creek and Cherokee leaders formalized the boundaries between their nations in 1821; and through the heavily wooded hills.

The park has picnic pavilions, recreation fields, an outdoor amphitheater and a visitor center with displays.

McIntosh Reserve is on Ga. 5 near Whitesburg, about 40 miles southwest of Atlanta.

The park is open 9 a.m.-6 p.m. daily. 770-830-5879.

Food: A longtime local favorite is Sprayberry's Bar-B-Que, 229 Jackson St., Newnan.

More hiking around Atlanta
• Amicalola Falls
• Black Rock Mountain
• Chattahoochee River National Rec. Area
• Cloudland Canyon State Park
• Kennesaw Mountain
• McIntosh Reserve
• Panola Mountain
• Red Top Mountain
• Reynolds Nature Preserve
• State Botanical Garden of Georgia
• Stone Mountain
• Sweetwater Creek
• Tallulah Gorge State Park
• Hiking Guide home


* Degree of Difficulty as rated by "Hiking Trails of North Georgia" by Tim Homan



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