11 amazing places to check out in Georgia this summer

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service, which has left an impressive footprint here in Georgia. Wednesday at 8 p.m., Channel 2's "Georgia's Hidden Treasures" looks at our state's 11 national parks and each has its own fascinating story to tell.

1. Andersonville National Historic Site, Andersonville

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Once the site of a notoriously brutal Civil War prison, Camp Sumter (known informally as Andersonville) is now home to a national cemetery and the National Prisoner of War Museum, which honors all American POWs.

FACT: The population at the camp once made it the biggest city in Georgia – but it had no roads, no streets and no water. In the 14 months the prison was open, nearly 13,000 people died in the deplorable conditions. (Image: National Park Service)

2. Appalachian National Scenic Trail, North Georgia

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The Appalachian Trail starts at Springer Mountain in the Blue Ridge Mountains in Fannin County and winds 79 miles through north Georgia before continuing over 2,000 miles up the East Coast to Maine.

FACT: The highest peak on the Appalachian Trail in Georgia, Blood Mountain, is taller than three Empire State Buildings. (Image: Nicholas Tronelli)

3. Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area

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The Chattahoochee River National Recreation area preserves a 48-mile stretch between Atlanta and Lake Lanier. There is evidence people have lived along the river thousands of years.

FACT: Many familiar street names in Atlanta come from mills perched on the river's edge and ferries that used to help people and vehicles across. (Image: Wikipedia/Keizer)

4. Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park, Fort Oglethorpe

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These historic battlefields in north Georgia and south Tennessee were the site of some of the hardest fighting in the Civil War, as Chattanooga was considered to be the "Gateway to the Deep South."

FACT: Dedicated in 1895, Chickamauga was the first military park of its kind and has since served a model for most military and historical parks. (Image: National Park Service)

5. Cumberland Island National Seashore, Cumberland Island

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This park preserves Cumberland Island, which is the largest and southernmost of Georgia’s barrier islands. You can only get to the island by ferry and public access is limited. In fact, only 300 people are allowed on the island at a time.

FACT: The island is famous for having a population of feral horses, which may have originally been brought over by early Spanish explorers. (Image: Flickr/Doug Anderson)

6. Fort Frederica National Monument, St. Simons Island

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The colony of Georgia was established in 1732 to provide a place where poor debtors from England and Scotland could settle. British Colonists built Fort Frederica in 1736 to defend their new territory from Spanish raids.

FACT: In 1742, troops defeated the Spanish, which ensured Georgia's future as a British colony. (Image: Flickr/Courtney McGough)

7. Fort Pulaski National Monument, Cockspur Island

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Fort Pulaski was built with walls 11 feet thick – but that wasn’t enough to stop new technology used by the Union Army during the Civil War – the rifled cannon. After Union troops continuously bombarded the fort for 30 hours, the Confederate Army surrendered.

FACT: Before Union forces gained control, it was assumed Fort Pulaski would be invincible to enemy attack. (Wikipedia/Bubba 73)

8. Jimmy Carter National Historic Site – Plains

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This site, stretching across rural Plains, preserves Georgia-born former President Jimmy Carter’s boyhood home, farm, school and the town railroad depot that served as campaign headquarters during Carter’s 1976 election. To visit the Carter site is to step back in time: His home and school have all been restored to look as they would have looked when Carter was a child.

FACT: As president, Carter established 39 new national sites, including the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area and the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site. (Image: WSB-TV)

9. Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park, Kennesaw

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This 2,923-acre park marks one of the sites of the Civil War’s most defining battles, the Atlanta campaign. Troops fought for seven days here in 1864, resulting in a Confederate victory.

FACT: It was so hot during a battle on Cheatham Hill that at one point the stench of death got so bad, both sides had to call a truce to bury their dead. (Image: National Park Service)

10.  Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site, Atlanta

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This familiar site in Atlanta includes King’s boyhood home, the original Ebenezer Baptist Church where King and his father were pastors, a firehouse and the King Center, where King and his wife are entombed.

FACT: The National Park Service preserves the block on Auburn Avenue around King's childhood home to make it look as close as possible to what it would have looked like when he was a child. (Image: WSB-TV)

11. Ocmulgee National Monument – Macon

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Ocmulgee preserves a big part of Mississippian Native American culture in central Georgia: a set of ceremonial mounds built about 1,000 years ago. The earthworks include a Great Temple, ceremonial mounds, a burial mound and defensive trenches.

FACT: Archaeologists believe that people have lived here continuously for 17,000 years. (Image: WSB-TV)

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