Image credit: Tom Stelling

Year Erected: 1956

Marker Text:  Here begins “Georgia Veterans Memorial State Park.” This 1,200 acre tract of land was purchased by Crisp County Commissioners and given to the State of Georgia December 4, 1946 in grateful appreciation of, and as a living memorial to the devotion to duty, the heroic service and unselfish sacrifice of Georgia War Veterans. This memorial lies shielded and almost surrounded by Lake Blackshear, formed by the backwaters of the Crisp County Hydroelectric Power Dam, the first county owned, constructed and operated hydroelectric power project in the United States.

"Camp Safety Patrol," established 1951, lies along the South border of the Memorial Park and was sponsored by the Safety Education Division of the Georgia Department of Public Safety and the Georgia Department Veterans of Foreign Wars, and proved to be the first School Patrol Safety Training Camp in the nation dedicated to teaching safety to youth.