More Than Just a Place to Stay
Staying at Okefenokee Pastimes gives you plenty to do without ever leaving the property, along with easy access to one of Georgia’s most well-known natural areas.
On site, guests enjoy a fishing pond, wooded walking trails, open space for yard games, and a dedicated stargazing field with wide, dark skies. Evenings are often spent around campfires, watching the stars, or relaxing after a full day outdoors. The property layout gives families room for kids to move, while still keeping a calm, quiet feel for couples and solo travelers.
We host seasonal events, live music nights, and family-friendly gatherings throughout the year. These events are relaxed and social, focused on good food, music, and time outside.
Our on-site restaurant and camp store make it easy to grab meals, snacks, drinks, ice, firewood, and camping essentials without leaving the campground. Many guests enjoy spending the day exploring, then coming back for dinner and a low-key night at camp.
Just minutes away, the Okefenokee Swamp National Wildlife Refuge offers boat tours, wildlife viewing, boardwalk trails, and educational exhibits. Guests often plan a day at the swamp and return to the campground for a quiet evening under the stars.
Whether you want a full schedule or a slow pace, Okefenokee Pastimes gives you the space and options to enjoy your stay your way.
The Great Okefenokee Swamp is one of North America’s most unspoiled, fascinating, and precious natural areas. It is the largest, intact, un-fragmented, freshwater, and black water wilderness swamp in North America. “Okefenokee” was the name used by the indigenous Creeks and was believed to mean, “Land of Trembling Earth”. As it turns out, that’s a popular but very loose and many believe incorrect translation. “Oka” means water in the Hitchiti Creek language and “Fenoke” means shaking in Hitchiti. So the original meaning of Okefenokee is more like “Waters Shaking” not the commonly held “Land of Trembling Earth.”
This remote park is a primary entrance to the legendary Okefenokee Swamp—one of Georgia’s seven natural wonders. Spanish moss-laced trees reflect off the black swamp waters, while cypress knees rise upward from the glass-like surface. Here, paddlers and photographers will enjoy breathtaking scenery and abundant wildlife. Alligators, turtles, raccoons, black bears, deer, ibis, herons, wood storks, red-cockaded woodpeckers and numerous other creatures make their homes in the 402,000 acre refuge. Stargazers will appreciate the particularly dark sky.
No need to invest in astronomy equipment, you can use a pair of binoculars if you have them. Just the naked eye with the Bortle 3 skies you can see the Milky Way, Andromeda and Orion (when in season). We will in the near future begin offering monthly leases for an observatory and RV spot, they will be available for purchase in weekly, 1 month, 3 months, and 6-month blocks and will be all-inclusive (you will need your own equipment). We hope to be able to begin offering this in March 2022 observatories will consist of 4 Sky Pod Sheds in the field with power. We will also be renting Dobsonian mounted Telescopes that you can use and view the planets and stars with (price to be determined) they will be set up on concrete pads and will have all the eyepieces you will need for viewing.
Take a guided tour down the river and get a beautiful and fun experience f Folkston Georgia. They have kayaks, motor boats, canoes and more.
Come visit the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens for a fun activity for the whole family. Here they have hundreds of animals from African Spoonbills to Giant Anteaters.
Enjoy hikes all over Georgia’s Largest Barrier Island at the Cumberland Island National Seashore. They wild horses along with tons of awesome wildlife.