This bustling North Georgia green space offers nearly 5 miles of well-kept trails, waterfront views and abundant amenities for both recreation and relaxation.
Photo Above: The boardwalk arches gently over a wetlands area / Photos Courtesy of Leonard M. and Laurie Adkins.
Oh, what a pleasure it is to visit a park and find it to be what a public facility should be (in this case, a county park). Scenic Meeks Park in Blairsville, Georgia, has close to 5 miles of trails coursing onto hillsides and beside two gently flowing waterways, in addition to multiple amenities such as ballfields, playgrounds, tennis courts, a skate park, swimming pool, kayak launch, adult exercise area, dog park and disc golf course. Yes, these are facilities that many places have. But here’s the difference: The two times I have been to Meeks Park (which were several years apart), the place has been spotlessly clean and everything well maintained. Obviously, the county — and the people who visit — care enough to keep it that way.
This is a busy place, so don’t expect to be alone on the trails. On a winding boardwalk over a wetlands area, Laurie engaged in a conversation with a local resident about the best place in town to go for lunch. Near the confluence of Butternut Creek and the Nottely River, a fisherman had his ball cap pulled down to his eyes and almost looked to be slumbering in his canvas chair. I told him, “You look like the epitome of relaxation.” He replied, “Yeah, and I intend to stay this way for the rest of the day.” Several hundred yards later, we did our own relaxing on a swing overlooking the river just a few moments after a family of four had abandoned it to wade into the water.
Yet wildlife common to urban areas was abundant. Ducks swam in the creek, squirrels barked at us from tree limbs, groundhogs scurried across the trail and a lone chipmunk froze in place when we walked by. Vines of deep purplish-blue morning glory crept up the trailside embankments.
Diverting our attention from the natural world were the gear mechanisms on the late 1800s Hughs/Tate Grist Mill, moved here from a nearby location in 1999 and now used to demonstrate the turning of the water wheel. Numerous kinetic sculptures by Blairsville resident Al Garnto diverted our attention to them on the stream and hillside pathways. Created from recycled materials, each one had objects that spun, went up and down or reacted, in one way or another, to the motion of the wind.
Even around these sculptures, the care in maintenance was evident. A fence around one was in good repair and vegetation had recently been cut back.
After a lunch of fried green tomatoes and grilled rainbow trout at Hole in the Wall Restaurant in downtown Blairsville, we returned to the park to wrap up our day of walking with another mile or so on a paved pathway shaded by planted cypress trees.
When You Go
The Walk: A moderately easy 2-mile circuit (with one gradual up and down) along a creek, river and hillside in Meeks Park, Blairsville, Georgia. (Several more miles of moderately easy trails are available.)
Getting There: From the intersection of US 19 and US 76 in Blairsville, drive US 76 westward for .7 mile, turn left into the park and follow Meeks Park Road to the large parking lot on the left in an additional .3 mile.
More Information: A search for Meeks Park on caltopo.com yields the park’s trail map.
Leonard’s writing has received numerous national awards, including the National Outdoor Book, SATW Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism, and IBPA Ben Franklin Awards, in addition to a Virginia Literary Award nomination. Find out more at www.habitualhiker.com. He also writes Mountain Wildflowers, found on BlueRidgeCountry.com.
The story above first appeared in our November / December 2025 issue.
