Hickory Knob State Resort Park

Beautiful park to golf, boating or just get away. Will return

My daughter and I stayed here over the Labor Day weekend.
We had planned (or I had planned) to make it a beach weekend but I waited too late to make reservations.
This place was a good substitution. The only things missing were the sand and surf.
There are a number of rental options on this huge property (cabins, a small house, motel rooms…), surprising me nicely because I’ve never stayed anywhere similar.
There is a lot to DO here: archery, skeet shooting, golf, tennis, swimming (pool), walking/​hiking, watching for wildlife, etc.
We stayed in one of the motel-​style rooms that surround the pool. It was a typical room but a bit nicer, with a small fridge, a microwave, a small table with two chairs, and there was a brand new flat screen mounted opposite the beds.
There was also a radio and a CD player on the nightstand. Free wi-​fi too!
Labor Day weekend was quite busy but it was fun to meet other families and nothing ever seemed too crowded or noisy.
The property has a small restaurant (which I called the dining room) that has the BEST fried chicken I’ve tasted in a LONG time. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are served buffet style or special order from the menu.
Pretty standard buffet items and some we had never seen before (several unidentifiable deep fried items) but what we ate was tasty and reasonably priced.
Waitstaff was very nice, southern ladies young and old who treated us like family.
The ranger on duty was really cool. I can’t remember her name but she works hard at the park. VERY hard. Kudos to her for helping us with a special issue despite everything else on her plate. I wonder when she gets time to sleep…
Finding this place was frustrating and longer than Google Maps said it would be. I’m not sure if we kept getting lost and driving in circles or the roads were just carved out strangely.
Even a few folk with GPS said they got lost too.
So take lots of snacks for the trip and be prepared to stop a few times for directions.
We didn’t find time to do everything we wanted to do (shoot skeet for me; archery for my daughter) so it’s likely that we’ll go back some time next spring or summer.