Magnolia Springs State Park, State park in Millen, Georgia, US
Magnolia Springs State Park is a state park centered on natural springs that produce vast quantities of water daily, with wooden pathways built over the water for viewing wildlife. The springs feed pools where fish and aquatic animals thrive in the clear water.
Camp Lawton was built in fall 1864 by the Confederate Army to hold Union prisoners, using slave labor and pine timber cut on site for walls 12 to 15 feet high. It received at least 10,299 prisoners from early October and was abandoned by the end of November when Sherman's troops advanced. In 2010 Georgia Southern University students used a prisoner's watercolors to locate the stockade and uncovered around 200 artifacts.
The park's History Center displays some of the first artifacts excavated by Georgia Southern University's archaeology team, whose surveys and excavations have for years helped reveal and interpret Camp Lawton. Students located the stockade in 2010 using watercolors painted by an imprisoned private. Heritage Day in November focuses on the history of the park and Jenkins County.
The park offers accommodations ranging from cottages to camping sites suited to different preferences and budgets. Visitors should plan time to walk the boardwalks and watch for wildlife, which is most active in early morning and late afternoon hours.
Two large timbers were recovered from the spring run; they may come from Camp Lawton's prison or, more likely, from Civilian Conservation Corps work carried out between 1938 and 1942. The park also keeps remnants of the earthen fort that guarded the 10,000-prisoner camp.
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