Hodges Gardens State Park

A.J. Hodges bought more than a hundred thousand acres of barren cutover land in west-central Louisiana — timber country picked clean — and replanted thirty-nine thousand acres. The land included a sandstone quarry that had supplied rock for the Port Arthur jetties, material hauled out by wagon on a journey of at least six days round trip. Hodges and his wife Nona looked at the old quarry and decided to build a garden around the rock formations.

They created a 225-acre lake in 1954, pumped water through terraced beds to waterfalls and fountains and pools, then cycled it back. They opened the garden to the public in 1956 and formally dedicated it on May 1, 1959. The park they built covered forty-seven hundred acres — formal gardens, walking trails, an arboretum, greenhouses for tropical stock, a dual stairway with a cascading waterfall down the center. From the overlook, you could see Texas, more than fourteen miles away.

The park transferred to a nonprofit foundation in 1960. The state of Louisiana took it over in 2007 — making it the newest park in the system and the largest horticultural park and recreation area in the United States. The state refurbished the gardens and cabins, reopened them on March 20, 2008. Nine years later, facing a tight budget, Louisiana chose not to continue operating Hodges Gardens. Ownership returned to the A.J. and Nona Trigg Hodges Foundation. The park closed on February 20, 2018.

The grounds lie between Florien and Hornbeck, near Toledo Bend Reservoir, some fifteen miles south of Many. The old quarry, the terraced gardens, the waterfalls fed by recycled lake water — this corner of Sabine Parish once drew visitors who returned year after year. Mayor Kenneth Freeman of Many visited since 1964, when he was eight years old. "Every time I go I see something new and beautiful," he said. Check hodgesgardens.org before visiting — access remains uncertain.