Warm Springs, GA

Whenever we get ready to head out on a camping tour, we decide on an Audible book to listen to while driving. With the current Covid pandemic, we started listening to “Polio: An American Story” by David M. Oshinsky. This is such an interesting book to listen to because it discusses the history of polio, which is also caused by a virus, and how the vaccine was developed - with all the ups and downs that went along with it. This book inspired us to visit Warm Springs, Georgia, where President Franklin D. Roosevelt founded a treatment center for polio patients. President Roosevelt also suffered from polio and found some relief through bathing in the natural warm springs found there. Although this did not cure the condition, the warm springs did ease the discomfort and improved movement to some extent.

Warm Springs, GA, is a small town hidden away in the mountains of Georgia. We booked a campsite in the national park there. The campsite was fairly empty since it was January - which worked for us! As always, we had the smallest (but coolest) camper there. The campsite is about a 20 minute drive away from the treatment facilities and the town. After setting up our site, we headed out to have a look around. It was late in the day already, and pretty cold, so we mostly drove around. One of the first places we stopped at was “The Little White House”. the Little White House is the second home that President Roosevelt built in Warm Springs. It was here that he passed away in 1945 after suffering a massive stroke. The first home that he built here was the McCarthy Cottage. Unfortunately, this house burned in 2011, only the foundation remains.

We drove around the resort, which includes multiple houses, treatment centers, treatment pools, and even a golf course. Most of the cottages there are now abandoned and in very poor shape. Several have already been taken back by nature. The treatment pools were closed and the golf course is also no longer in use, or so it appears. Overall, it was extremely interesting to see all of this, while also very sad to see how things are not maintained.

On our way back to our campsite, we stopped at Dowdell’s Knob, which was one of Roosevelt’s favorite places to barbeque and picnic. The grill has a magnificent view and I can imagine how beautiful this is when it is a little warmer! Along the way we also came across an old campsite that has a natural warm spring on the property. We took a short walk through the field and found this spring, which is covered with a small gazebo.

After getting back to the campsite, it was time to do something more fun for Whisky and Brandy. We took them on a 3 mile hike through the state park. They absolutely loved it! And the entire hike was peaceful and beautiful, even though it was pretty chilly! I look forward to going back again when the weather is better and hope to spend more time exploring the extensive history of the area.