EUFAULA, ALABAMA

The last leg of our southeast trip was to Eufaula to meet motorhome friends Don and Mary Seager. Don and Mary proved to be wonderful hosts and guides of the area sights. A highlight of the visit was a personal tour by the Seagers of the Eufaula National Wildlife Refuge, where the accompanying wildlife pictures were taken. Don and Mary are volunteer staff there during part of the year. That alligator had to be 12-14 feet long.

The site along the Chattahoochee River that is now modern-day Eufaula was occupied by three Creek Indian tribes of the Muscogee Nation. The most dominant of the three, and most open to contact with whites, was named "the Eufaulas" (pronounced "you-fall-uhs.") In 1823, families from Georgia, looking for fertile crop land, established a permanent white settlement on the high bluffs of the area and adopted the Creek village's name. The town became a major shipping and trading point for surrounding counties in Georgia and Alabama. Its many impressive antebellum homes attest to that rich history.

We camped at Lake PointState Park just north of town, on 45,000 acre Lake Eufaula among beautiful trees covered in Spanish moss (actually a flowering plant in the bromeliad family). Lake Eufaula’s claim to fame is some of the best bass fishing in the country.