Hungry Mother State Park

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A lake in the Park.
A lake in the Park.

Hungry Mother State Park in southwestern Virginia is noted for its woodlands and lake. Easily accessible from Interstate 81, this park has folklore and history, swimming, camping, cabin rentals, boat rentals, hiking and the park system’s first conference center, Hemlock Haven.

Much of the land for Hungry Mother State Park was donated by local landowners to develop a new state park in Smyth County on Hungry Mother Creek. The park is one of the six original CCC parks that opened in June 1936.

[edit] The Legend of Hungry Mother

Legend has it that when the Native Americans destroyed several settlements on the New River south of the park, Molly Marley and her small child were among the survivors taken to the raiders’ base north of the park. They eventually escaped, wandering through the wilderness eating berries. Molly finally collapsed, and her child wandered down a creek until the child found help. The only words the child could utter were "Hungry Mother." The search party arrived at the foot of the mountain where Molly collapsed to find the child's mother dead. Today that mountain is Molly’s Knob (3,270 feet), and the stream is Hungry Mother Creek.

[edit] External links

Protected Areas of Virginia
Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation | Virginia Department of Forestry
State Parks Bear Creek Lake | Belle Isle | Chippokes Plantation | Claytor Lake | Douthat | Fairy Stone | False Cape | First Landing | Grayson Highlands | Holliday Lake | Hungry Mother | James River | Kiptopeke | Lake Anna | Mason Neck | Natural Tunnel | New River Trail | Occoneechee | Pocahontas | Sailor's Creek Battlefield | Shenandoah River | Sky Meadows | Smith Mountain Lake | Staunton River | Staunton River Battlefield | Twin Lakes | Westmoreland | Wilderness Road | York River
Historical State Parks George Washington's Grist Mill | Shot Tower | Southwest Virginia Museum
State Natural Areas Bethel Beach | Bush Mill Stream | Caledon | Goshen Pass | Hughlett Point | Lick Creek | Pinnacle
State Forests Appomatox-Buckingham | Bourassa | Browne | Chilton Woods | Conway-Robinson | Crawfords | Cumberland | Devil's Backbone | Hawks | Lesesne | Matthews | Niday Place | Paul | Prince Edward-Gallion | Sandy Point | Whitney | Zoar
Other Affiliated Areas Breaks Interstate Park | Chippokes Farm and Forestry Museum | Clinch Mountain Wildlife Management Area | Holliday Creek Trout Fishing Area | Tabb Monument