Hungry Mother State Park
An award-winning Best State Park, the 2,215 acre HMSP offers cabins; a family lodge, 118 campsites; a beach; a restaurant; walking, hiking, biking, and multi-use paths(some paved); picnicking shelters;gift store and concessions, volleyball areas; interpretive and educational programs; and non-motorized boating, fishing and swimming at a 108-acre lake. Also available by reservation is Hemlock Haven, a 35-acre conference center site, and an amphitheater for small special events such as weddings and musical of theatrical entertainment.
Visit the Discovery Center of the park in person for more information and assistance, call 1-800-933-PARK, or visit the park online at http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/state_parks/hun.shtml
History of the Park
On June 15, 1936, Virginia simultaneously opened six parks, comprising at the time, its entire state park system and was the first state to do so. Hungry Mother State Park (HMSP) was on of those original state parks. The other five are: Douthat, Westmoreland, Fairy Stone, Staunton River and First Landing (originally Seashore). Local landowners donated much of the Hungry Mother State Park land for the purpose of developing a new state park.
The idea was visionary; the rewards have been multifaceted and long-standing. In 1933, the nation fell into the Great Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt created an innovative employment program intended to put a half-million unemployed young men to work across the country, calling it the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).
The CCC program changed America's landscape as well as the lives of the more than 3 million men it employed and their families in less than one decade. According to the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, "The young men of the CCC built more than 40,000 bridges, planted two billion trees, improved thousands of beaches, roads and shorelines, and created 800 state parks, including the first six in Virginia."
Protecting natural resources while providing a venue for recreation outdoors, the park system is a win-win project for everyone. Millions utilize the parks today and we assured our land and forests are well tended within this network of conservation.
The Legend of Hungry Mother
Hungry Mother State Park was originally planned to be named Forest Lake State Park. Local lore favored a name change and carries on the legend of Molly Marley: Her husband murdered, Molly is allegedly taken captive, along with her toddler, by Indians across the mountain and into what is now Tazewell County. Escaping to return with her child, she braves the elements, wandering starved and without supplies. Collapsing at the foot of what is now known as Molly's Knob, she does not survive, but her child finds local settlers and conveys his mother's plight: "Hungry mother!" They find Molly beside a creek, which becomes known as Hungry Mother Creek.