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Thomasville, known as the City of Rose’s, is the second-largest city in Southeast Georgia and is filled with rich history, specialty shops, and the natural beauty of the south that surrounds the city. Adjacent to the Thomasville Rose Garden is Cherokee Park, one of the most scenic parks Thomasville has to offer. The park’s mile-long paved trail winds around the lake through walkways and under an old railroad bridge that provides close encounters with ducks and geese. Along the way there are pavilions ideal for an afternoon picnic.

Just northeast of Thomasville is Reed Bingham State Park, which features an adventurous lake, the Little River, and seven miles of hiking trails where one can marvel at the beauty of nature and peaceful tranquility. The five main trails, covering just over 5.5 miles, cut through the heart of the park’s natural beauty and ecosystem. The Little River Trail traverses boardwalks through the backlands flooded by the Little River through bald cypresses, tupelos, and spruce pines. This trail connects to the Yearling Trail, which climbs steadily from the backlands to the forested cliff overlooking the river through pine and palm trees and ends at most of the northern part of the park, where the Red Roberts Loop begins, which features with several boardwalks through drainage streams that flow into the small river. Returning via the Bird Walk trail, you pass five natural communities of southern hardwoods, hickory, magnolias, and holly trees.

The northern part of Leon County is where Elinor Klapp-Phipps Park is located, which spans 670 acres along the shores of Lake Jackson. The park is known as Tallahassee’s largest and wildest urban park, where you can find winding streams, huge tulip poplars, and ancient magnolias throughout the dense forest. The park’s 7.5-mile trail system is made up of three stacked loops showcasing spectacular trees of enormous sizes where each loop gets longer and more difficult. The easiest and shortest is the 1.5 mile loop Coon Bottom trail. Stacked in this loop is the 1.8 mile swamp forest loop that runs around the perimeter of a wooded wetland where the terrain becomes mountainous and traverses swamps on wooden walkways through a beech and magnolia forest. From this trail, the 8-mile Creek trail leads to the 2.5-mile Oak Hammock Loop.

On the north side of Tallahassee is Alfred B MaClay Gardens State Park. In 1923 Alfred purchased this property for his family’s winter retreat and began building a masterpiece of floral architecture, which is now on the National Register of Historic Places. The gardens overlook Lake Hall and is where his family entertained many prominent people over the years, including the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. A 75-mile walk through the gardens along the picturesque brick walkway showcases hundreds of camellias, azaleas, a walled garden, a secret garden, and a reflecting pool. Additionally, the park has about 5.5 miles of shared figure-eight trails that pass through a hardwood forest of shortleaf pines, loblolly’s, magnolias, dogwoods, and live oaks. The Lake Over-street trail is the easiest one that wraps around the lake, which is one of the last undeveloped shores of Leon counties, where native vegetation, such as water lily and pike undergrowth, thrives and provides natural habitat for fish, otters, alligators and bald eagles. Whereas, the Forest Meadows trail is a bit more difficult with its gently sloping hills and ravines that are a rare natural feature in the Tallahassee area.

Leon County is home to two important cultural resources, the artifacts at the sites dating back about 12,000 years. The temple earth mounds are believed to have been built by the Swift Creek people and used by the surrounding communities for ceremonies. The mound at Letchworth-Love Mounds Archaeological State Park stands at 51 feet and a short paved walkway leads to the observation deck. Adjacent to the mound is a short, half-mile nature trail for wildlife viewing. A large plantation owned by Colonel Robert Butler is now the site of Lake Jackson Mounds Archaeological State Park, home to six of the seven known earth temple mounds. The two mounds that are intact and available for public viewing are situated in an open area known as the central plaza. Additionally, the park has two trails, where the 1.5-mile Old Orchard loop winds through wooded hills where giant trees are still found. The shorter Butler Mill Loop cuts through the waterworks of the old plantation, crossing an earth dam used for irrigation and the site of the old mill.

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