Locate It: Hazlehurst

Whether you are just passing through, visiting for the day or staying for a while, you are invited to COME LINGER … LONGER in Hazlehurst, Georgia and Jeff Davis County. The Bullard Creek Wildlife Management Area (WMA) and the Towns Bluff Park and Heritage Center offer myriad opportunities for the outdoors enthusiast. Deer and turkey hunting, boating and fishing, canoeing and kayaking, birdwatching and hiking – the possibilities are almost endless.

Sitting on a whopping 14,000 acres, Bullard Creek WMA provides an array of activities ranging from hunting for deer, turkey and small game to horseback riding. The WMA includes an RV campground, archery range, shooting range, boat ramp and canoe access, and picnic shelters. To use the facilities at the WMA, people who do not have a hunting or fishing license — hikers, bird watchers, shooting range users, campers, etc. — are required to have a public lands pass. Passes can be purchased and campsites reserved at www.gooutdoorsgeorgia.com.

Towns Bluff Park and Heritage Center is in the Bullard Creek WMA on the Altamaha River, only eight miles north of Hazlehurst on Hwy. 221 N. The Park, maintained by Jeff Davis County and not to be confused with the WMA’s RV campground, abounds in open spaces and outdoor activities. The pet-friendly (on a leash) campground has 24 level, spacious sites with full hook-ups, a bathhouse, and a fire pit. Recreational vehicle and primitive camping are available along with yurt and RV rentals, picnic shelters and full restrooms.

Trails throughout the park present visitors with nature and beautiful river views, including along a boardwalk across a section of river swamp. Many of the trails are ideal for birdwatching, as is the butterfly garden. A 10-station exercise trail will satisfy those who are more active.

The Heritage Center has a playground, a museum, and a meeting room that seats about 60 people. The museum tells the story of the river, beginning with the Native Americans who fished and hunted along the banks of the rivers.

Just a couple of bends upstream from Towns Bluff Park is the confluence where three of Georgia’s largest rivers converge. The Ocmulgee River, which forms southeast of Atlanta and flows through Macon, joins the Oconee River, which forms near Athens, to create the mighty Altamaha River. There are no dams along the 135-mile run of the Altamaha from the confluence to the coast near Darien, GA. The Altamaha River, designated by the Nature Conservancy as one of the 75 “Last Great Places in the World,” boasts an ecosystem filled with wildlife, bird life and flora and fauna not seen anywhere else in Georgia. Hunters will enjoy the white-tail deer, turkey, and game birds, while nature lovers and photographers will embrace sightings of bald eagles, swallow-tail kites, and the red-cockaded woodpecker. Anglers will catch a variety of fish including bass, bream, and catfish.

The three rivers are an angler’s paradise. Towns Bluff Park has two paved boat ramps. Bream, bass, crappie and catfish are plentiful. Catfish of 30 pounds and up are not unusual. The red breast are making a comeback in many areas and freshwater mullet can be caught during certain times of the year.

Find you way around Hazlehurst and Jefferson County with our online interactive map.