Lake Lurleen State Park in western Alabama developed from state land purchased in 1952, where a dam on a tributary of Big Creek created the 250-acre lake at its center. Operated from 1956 to 1970 as Tuscaloosa County Public Lake, it later came under direct state control, gained additional facilities, and was renamed in 1972 for Lurleen Wallace, a Tuscaloosa County native and Alabama’s first female governor, who died in office in 1968. Covering 1,625 acres, the park combines lake recreation, camping, and a 23-mile trail system that earned National Recreation Trail designation in 2011, making it both a major outdoor destination and a memorial landscape.