Awhile back while trying to figure out where all of the Alabama State Parks were located I came across what I thought was “Florala State Park” in Alabama. Florala (“Flor“ida “Ala“bama) if you don’t know is a city on the Alabama side of the Florida/Alabama line. It runs along part of Lake Jackson which exists in both states. So if the name doesn’t leave you wondering which state the park exists in, it becomes even more complicated because it seems like the park, officially called “Florala City Park” might have once been an official Alabama State Park that was later turned over to the city. I say that because many searches yielded confused results, and the official Alapark website at the time I write this has a page declaring “Lake Jackson RV Campground & Park at Florala is now owned and operated by the City of Florala.” So that sounds to me like this park got handed off to the city, but once belonged to the state park system. The campground is off to the side of the city parks for what it is worth and looks like one of those RV hotels.
To make it even slightly more confusing, Lake Jackson also has the “Florala City Wetlands Park” around it as well. So that’s two city parks, a lake that crosses state lines, and all the other trimmings to make it confusing. The wetlands park offers some neat boardwalks and a great view of the lake. But all the views of the lake are pretty good. This is a great little spot to drop a kayak in the water from the beach area at the Florala City Park. You can amuse yourself by kayaking over state lines and back as a technicality. You might ask yourself if the lake is on both sides of the state line, which state fishing license do you need? I have no idea, but it’s all amusingly confusing and the place is worth a visit.
