Hodges Gardens State Park

🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 Southern Garden Marvel — 700-acre botanical wonderland in the Kisatchie Hills — Hodges Gardens was once called the “Garden in the Forest” and features a 225-acre lake, 70-acre formal garden with 4,700+ varieties of plants, and waterfalls cascading down a former stone quarry! Created by A.J. Hodges Sr. beginning in 1956 as a gift to the people of Louisiana.

Visitor Information

Getting There

Located on Highway 171 south of Many in Sabine County — in the Kisatchie Hills of western Louisiana. The 700-acre garden was carved from a former rock quarry by A.J. Hodges, creating a dramatic landscape of stone cliffs, cascading waterfalls, and formal plantings. The 225-acre lake provides fishing and boating. Wild azaleas bloom spectacularly in March-April. Kisatchie National Forest surrounds the park.

Plan Your Visit

Hodges Gardens offers camping, fishing, boating, swimming, and formal garden walks through a dramatic landscape carved from a former rock quarry. The 225-acre lake has bass and crappie fishing. Wild azaleas bloom March-April; the formal gardens are spectacular year-round. Kisatchie National Forest trails are accessible from the park. The town of Many (15 minutes) provides lodging and the Fort Jesup State Historic Site (1822 frontier post) is nearby.

Nature & Wildlife

The gardens’ quarry-cliff plantings create dramatic cascading displays of azaleas, camellias, and roses against exposed rock faces. The 225-acre lake supports bass, bream, and catfish. Louisiana black bears — a threatened subspecies — inhabit the surrounding Kisatchie National Forest. Wild azaleas (Rhododendron canescens) bloom spectacularly in the surrounding pine forests during March-April, coloring the hillsides pink and white.

Insider Tips

Garden in the wild: Hodges Gardens was created by A.J. Hodges in a former stone quarry — 4,700 acres of gardens, forests, and a 225-acre lake in northwest Louisiana’s Piney Woods. Pro tip: Louisiana’s Piney Woods region is culturally distinct from the Cajun south — this is Protestant, Anglo-American hill country more like east Texas. Forestry: Louisiana is a top lumber-producing state — pine plantations cover millions of acres.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Louisiana all swamps and bayous?

No — northern Louisiana is rolling pine hills, more culturally connected to the upland South than to Cajun country. The state has three distinct regions: the Mississippi Delta (agriculture and river culture), Acadiana (Cajun and Creole), and the Hills (pine forests and Anglo-Protestant culture). Shreveport feels more like Dallas than New Orleans. This internal diversity — French Catholic south vs. Anglo Protestant north — has shaped Louisiana politics for 200 years.