July 29, 2013
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Cherokee Rock Village will begin charging admission to some on Aug. 1 By SCOTT WRIGHT LEESBURG — If you are a sightseer who simply wants to look over the cliffs of Cherokee Rock Village and gaze across Weiss Lake and towards northwest Georgia, nothing will change for you Thursday morning. But if you want to spend the entire day, or a night or two, the Cherokee County Parks and Recreation Board (PRB) expects you to pay for the privilege beginning August 1. “Anyone who wants to come and enjoy the view for a couple hours can get a parking pass and do that for free,” said Board member David Crum, who also manages the county's Historical Museum. “Parking fees for the entire day will be $3 for cars, $15 for buses and vans.” There will also be user fees for individuals and family members, and overnight camping fees based on the number of nights stayed. Crum said one reason for the new fees is to provide security to protect the $1.2 million investment the PRB and the County Commission have made in the park over the past couple of years alone. “What we're trying to do is improve the offerings we have for people when they visit the park,” Crum said. “And obviously, for a long time, security has been an issue.” Cherokee Rock Village was long the domain of weekend vandals. For decades, broken beer bottles, graffiti-covered stones, destroyed security gates and overturned toilets constituted the scenery on a typical Monday morning. But a few years back, the County Commission breathed life into a lackadaisical Park Board. New members wanted a safe, self-sustaining Cherokee Rock Village that would be a boon to the county. There has been some member turnover since, but the focus has remained the same. “We're going to have staff, primarily on the weekends to begin, but also some volunteers during the week,” Crum said. “The entrance area is being designed to facilitate the new policy.” Recently, the PRB began installing security cameras at locations around the park. So far, no one has shot out the lenses or pulled them down with chains. Crum hopes that fact is a sign the PRB has finally asserted its determination to make Cherokee Rock Village safe for everyone. “We've had no vandalism since the cameras went up,” Crum said. “We're also trying to find someone to act as a camp host. We've got a spot laid out where we will provide water and electricity to someone willing to live on-site. We're actively looking for someone to take that position.” This week, with the implementation of partial paid admission, one step of the Board's long-term plan for Cherokee Rock Village becomes reality. And there are currently at least a dozen other steps to complete before the new vision for the park is realized. “We already have several walking trails cleared and marked, and the pavilion has been built. We hope to have a handicap-accessible observation deck constructed by next summer, and we also plan to add, at some point in the future, permanent bathrooms and showers,” Crum said. “We want to construct improved tent and RV camping areas, an amphitheater, a playground for children and a fireplace at one end of the pavilion.” Crum said visitors who haven't been to Cherokee Rock Village for some time will see the beginnings of what looks like an actual park, with signage and other visible indications of ongoing activity and improvements. “We have the parking areas clearly marked, and all the trails are marked and correspond to maps that will be available to campers,” Crum said. “Water is now available, which was never the case before. Those are some of the changes visitors can see already.” Crum said the PRB also envisions improvements aimed at the park's more active visitors. “We're looking into having a private company run a zip line, and we also want to build trails for mountain bikes and trail running.” On Facebook: Cherokee Rock Village |