Hodges Gardens State Park, Botanical garden and state park in Sabine Parish, US.
Hodges Gardens State Park covered 4,700 acres between Florien and Hornbeck in Sabine Parish, west central Louisiana, on U.S. Highway 171 about fifteen miles south of Many. Its 925-acre garden section held 60 acres of formal gardens, an arboretum, walking trails, waterfalls, the Azalea Overlook, a visitor center and a 225-acre lake with a lighthouse. The site also included an old quarry whose sandstone built the Port Arthur jetties.
Andrew Jackson Hodges Sr. bought over 100,000 acres of cut-over land and planned a scenic garden around an old quarry that had supplied sandstone for the Port Arthur jetties from 1898. Work began in the 1940s, the gardens opened to the public in 1956 and were dedicated on May 1, 1959. A non-profit foundation took over in 1960, the state park system in April 2007, and the site was listed on the National Register in 2015.
The gardens were developed by A. J. Hodges Sr. and his wife Nona Trigg Hodges, who planned a scenic garden around the old quarry's natural rock formations. The site hosted Easter sunrise services, Shakespearean plays, concerts and Fourth of July fireworks. A dual stairway with a cascading waterfall down its center was among the features visitors could see.
The park has hiking trails, fishing spots, camping areas, and cabin lodging for various visitor groups. Wear comfortable shoes and note that access to certain areas may vary with the seasons.
The quarry on the land once supplied sandstone for the jetties at Port Arthur, Texas; work there began in 1898 and wagons needed at least six days for the round trip. A.J. Hodges Sr. later laid out the gardens around those old rock formations. Water from the 225-acre lake, created in 1954, is pumped through the waterfalls, pools, fountains and geyser, then recycled back into the lake.
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