Gill Point

Gill Point Recreation Area is a rural park on the northern end of J. Strom Thurmond Lake, off Georgia State Highway 79. The lake covers 70,000 acres, with more than 1,000 miles of shoreline. Gill Point is a wooded day-use area with a group picnic shelter that can accommodate up to 24 people. Amenities include flush toilets, drinking water, a boat ramp and dock. Thurmond Lake provides some of the best fishing, hunting and water sports in the southeastern United States. Anglers fish for largemouth bass, bream, crappie, catfish and striped bass, and the large lake offers endless boating, water skiing, jet skiing, canoeing, swimming, hiking and picnicking opportunities. Hot, humid summers and mild, pleasant winters characterize this heavily wooded area on the shore of Thurmond Lake. A mixed pine and hardwood forest covers the site, providing summer shade and fall color, and elevation is 335 feet above sea level. Visitors regularly see southern bald eagles, migratory waterfowl, wild turkeys and whitetail deer. This quiet, rural area is very historic. The now-flooded town of Petersburg and the Nancy Hart Historical Site in Elbert County are nearby, and the park is 20 miles southeast of Elberton, Georgia, known as the Granite Capital of the World. Numerous parks and recreation areas lie around Thurmond Lake, and nearby cities house museums, art galleries, zoos, restaurants and shopping areas. The Augusta National Golf Club hosts the Masters Golf Tournament annually the first week of April.