‘Memories Day’ set for first African-American state park

Georgia’s first public recreational facility open to black families was created on Lake Allatoona in 1950 as George Washington Carver State Park.

On Saturday, the Acworth park is hosting a “Memories Day” from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. — urging residents to bring photos and stories of their summers on the shore. It served as a gathering place for church picnics, family reunions and visitors as far away as Atlanta, Birmingham and Charlotte through 1970.

The facility operated another five years as part of Bartow County’s system, and the county recently matched a $5,000 grant from the Georgia Department of Economic Development to improve the site. New this year are a number of restorations and the addition of interpretive signs.

The African-American Quilt Documentation Project will present their heirloom quilt findings on Saturday and is asking visitors to bring any heirloom quilts for documentation. The details will become part of the project and archived at the Bartow History Museum.

The Memories Day celebration also will include information about neighboring sites along a developing Bartow County Black History Trail. These include the Noble HillWheeler Memorial Center, Summer Hill Foundation, Euharlee Historical Society, Museum and Covered Bridge and Black Pioneers Cemetery, Kingston Woman’s History Club/ Melvinia Shields Gravesite and the Adairsville Depot History Museum.

A closing tree-planting ceremony will be held to honor the park’s “First Lady” Bessie Atkinson, who died last year. She was the widow of John Lloyd Atkinson, a World War II Tuskegee Airman, who pushed for creation of the park and became its superintendent.

The park is located at 3900 Bartow Carver Road.