Smithgall Woods Conservation Area and Lodge is a 5,844 acres (9.13 sq mi; 23.65 km2)Georgiastate park, lodge and protected wilderness area nearHelen, Georgia. It contains old growth forests, 12 miles of trout streams, and populations of wild turkeys, bears and deer.[1]
The area is named forCharles A. Smithgall Jr., a Georgia publisher, broadcaster and philanthropist who sold the property to the state in 1994 for half its appraised value. He had assembled the acreage in the 1970s and had a team clear trash, restock streams and plant thousands of trees. In a 1988 interview Smithgall was quoted, "At some point, a man has to put something back. I hate to see people just take from the land and never put something back."[1]
34°41′28″N83°46′05″W / 34.691°N 83.768°W /34.691; -83.768