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| Cheaha State Park in Alabama |
One of my favorite summer destinations in Alabama is the stunningly beautiful Cheaha State Park located atop Alabama's tallest mountain.
The temperature on top of the mountain is always much cooler than it is down below and the scenery is quite simply some of the most beautiful you will find anywhere. With its trails, accessible boardwalk, overlooks, picnic areas, campground, cabins, chalets, hotel and restaurant, Cheaha is a great place to get away from the heat and humidity of summer.
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| Overlook at Cheaha State Park |
The name "cheaha" interprets loosely from the Muskogee or Creek language as "high place." The Talladega Mountains, of which Mount Cheaha is a part, were once the domain of the mighty Creek Confederacy. "High place" is a logical name for the mountain, which dominates the horizon as you approach via the beautiful Cheaha Scenic Highway.
Defeated Creek warriors fled into these mountains after Andrew Jackson defeated them in the Battle of Talladega in 1813. The country was so rugged and rough that the Tennessee soldiers of Jackson's army did not attempt to pursue the retreating Indians into the hills.
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| Talladega National Forest |
After the Upper Creeks were forced to what is now Oklahoma on the Trail of Tears in 1836-1837, these lands were opened to white settlement. The trees that covered the mountains were harvested and in quite a few places gold mining even took place. By the 20th century, much of the Talladega Mountains country was bare.
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| Bunker Tower atop the Mountain |
That changed during the Great Depression, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) teamed up with the State of Alabama to replant the forests of the mountains, create Cheaha State Park and turn the entire area into a beautiful natural setting. Workers from the Civilian Conservation Corps (C.C.C.) labored for years building facilities and planting trees. The result of their work is today's beautiful state park and the surrounding Talladega National Forest.
Cheaha State Park is located near the cities of Talladega and Anniston about one-hour east of Birmingham and about 90 minutes west of Atlanta. To learn more, please follow these links:
