Jones Lake State Park

 Jones Lake State Park Is Centered Around Two Carolina Bays

Located on 2,208 acres of land in Bladen County, this one of the North Carolina State Parks is centered around two of the mysterious formations known as "Carolina Bays." The origin of these Bays is unknown and many theories abound as to how they were formed.

The Picnic Area At Jones Lake S.P. With The Lake In The Background

They vary in size from being extremely small up to several thousand acres. Around half a million exist on the Atlantic Coastal Plain of the eastern U.S. in such states as New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina.

Many are marshy areas whilst others have been drained and used as farmland, a few of the larger ones are shallow lakes. Both Lake Waccamaw State Park and Singletary Lake State Park feature them, as does Jones Lake State Park.

This Aerial Photo Clearly Shows The Mysterious Shallow Depressions Called Carolina Bays. (In The Photo None Of Them Are Lakes Like Jones, Waccamaw And Singletary.)

The two Carolina Bays here both have water in them and are called Salters Lake and Jones Lake. The first of these is named in honor of Sallie Salter, a heroine of the American Revolutionary War. She supplied information to the Patriots about enemy troops camped on the nearby Cape Fear River.

Jones Lake is named after Isaac Jones who owned the land on which Elizabethtown was built. He donated the land for the township and in return the lake was named for him. It had previously been called Woodward Lake after Samuel Woodward, a local Justice of the Peace.

The area in which this one of the NC Parks stands, was settled in the 1720`s and was then mainly covered in pine trees. These were logged by the settlers and the timber used in the shipping industry. Pitch and turpentine were also produced from the Longleaf Pines.

By the time of the Great Depression in the 1930`s many of the settlers in this part of North Carolina were attempting to exist on farms where the land was exhausted and a living of any sort couldn`t be made.

The government of President Roosevelt purchased much of the marginal land in the area around Jones Lake and a program of conservation was carried out under the management of the Resettlement Administration.

This Administration began to develop a recreation center at Jones Lake and the land was then turned over to the state of North Carolina in 1939.

In the summer of that year, Jones Lake State Park was created as a park for the use of African-Americans. With the onset of World War 11 in 1941 Jones Lake was used as a training base for an Anti-Aircraft school.

The Fishing Pier At Jones Lake S.P.

This wonderful example of the state parks in North Carolina is now fully integrated, as are all the N.C. State Parks. 

It has some fine facilities and is extremely popular for camping, boating, swimming and fishing. 

This is the position of Jones Lake S.P. marked with a star on a county map of North Carolina.