Play It Again Crystal Lake Hours

Historically known every bit Bone Pond, Crystal Lake was, at least from the late 1930s until its closure, a wildly pop rural recreation spot. It was originally known equally Bone Swimming, for Willis Os, who ran a grist mill at the site. Bone has traditionally been vilified in local circles as a Union sympathizer considering in 1861 he harbored Tony Young, a runaway slave from nearby Rebecca, on his belongings. When Judge Walker of Irwin County went to the manufacturing plant to question Os near the enslaved man, he found them working some fields on the property. An argument betwixt Bone and the judge ensued and Bone struck and killed the approximate with a rock. Bone then buried the approximate in a shallow grave near the lake. When Walker didn't return home, a posse went to detect him. They didn't detect Tony Young, but they did recover the torso of Judge Walker. Bone denied any involvement, just the posse lynched him almost immediately in a tree beside the factory pond. His family unit was immune to leave the canton. Years later, Bone'due south son stated that after Bone killed Judge Walker, he killed Tony Young and threw his trunk into the deepest section of the lake.

Mr. Bone's slap-up-not bad-great grandson, Richard Thornton, sheds new calorie-free on the story: "His son was a soldier in the Confederate Regular army of Northern Virginia. The Bones were Creek Indians. Almost Creeks did not believe in slavery and traditionally helped runaway slaves". Thornton also dispelled the long-held local legend that Bone was a Yankee, noting his birthplace was Elbert County, Georgia.

It was originally a pond of normal size but a sinkhole reportedly swallowed the manufacturing plant and filled the surrounding area with water. In the recreational era, the h2o level was  fed by numerous surreptitious springs connected to the nearby Alapaha River, and has risen and fallen at different times throughout its existence. It'south completely dried upwardly today and is no longer open to the public. I'm not certain who endemic it subsequently Willis Bone, but Dr. Westward. L. Story of Ashburn purchased it in the early 1920s. He was the first owner to see the recreational potential of the property. It is believed that much of the mythology surrounding the lake developed at this fourth dimension. Many locals believed it to exist haunted, and that the "Devil" had risen from the "bottomless pit".

Mandy Bryant notes that her "grandfather, Leon Lewis, and Jehu Fletcher owned Crystal Lake for awhile in the 40′s and fifty′s. My grandfather died in 1953 and at that time my female parent (Athleen Lewis Harp) and her sis (Maudine Lewis Holden) bought Jehu Fletcher's one-half. Then the three sisters sold the property." The tardily A. Northward. Adcock, Jr., of Tifton. who was one of the greatest promoters of tourism in the region, was the owner who expanded and popularized the park. It is at present used equally a hunting club. The Adcock family unit has done a great chore in regard to its full general preservation, as the surrounding hammocks and scrublands are ecologically important habitats. I was fortunate enough to become riding in the woods at Crystal Lake with Mr. Adcock, along with my father and the late Milton Hopkins, in search of a rare bird whose identity I can no longer recall. It was probably effectually 1989 and fifty-fifty then, at the peak of the park's popularity, Mr. Adcock was securely interested in preserving the natural history of this special identify. Unfortunatley, as of 2015, much of the holding has been clearcut.

This holding is private and secure; if you go there seeking access you volition be asked to get out or removed.

It was a big deal when the park closed, and apparently, it's been 16 years. There were times in the past when the lake was known to accept dried upward but it always naturally regenerated. I wait agricultural strains on the aquifer have rendered that incommunicable today.

At some betoken, as the park grew in popularity, the name was inverse to Crystal Beach. I tin remember a time when in that location was one of these bumper stickers on most every teenager's vehicle in Ben Loma & Irwin Counties.

A large modernistic bulldoze-through entrance gate was added in the 1990s. I remember the ticket berth pictured below.

This is the pavilion as it looked in the days when I was visiting Crystal Lake, from the 1970s to 1990s.

And here's a postcard view of a smaller pavilion in the early 1960s.

As the postcard view indicates, there was zero much on the beach in the 1960s, but by the 1970s and 1980s, growing crowds wanted more than diverse things to practise when spending the day.

I'grand sure many people accept memories of grilling hot dogs and hamburgers here.

Just past the picnic surface area and behind the pavilion was the real star attraction, the park's starting time large waterslide. Derek Veal, who worked at the park as a teenager, reminded me that it was known equally the "Glace Dip".

Other waterslides were added as the park expanded.

I'm grateful to have had the opportunity to meet it i more fourth dimension, but it is NOT publicly accessible nor exercise I have ability to become anyone access. Trespassing on the property is illegal and is watched closely.

My commencement postal service on Crystal Lake.

Aeriform Views of Crystal Lake, 2008

My friend Browne Harper made these shots of the lake in 2008. I'm grateful to him for sharing them with Vanishing Georgia.

This view shows water in the sinkhole; I didn't see any when I visited.

Hither'south a view of the pavilion and principal beach, with the Slippery Dip waterslide in the right background.

This was a newer waterslide which I wasn't familiar with.

The preceding three photographs are courtesy of Browne Harper. Delight practice not share them without proper credit to him.

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Source: https://vanishinggeorgia.com/2014/04/10/crystal-lake-irwin-county-2/