Farragut State Park | |
Idaho State Park | |
Lake Pend Oreille from Farragut State Park
|
|
Named for: David Farragut | |
Country | United States |
---|---|
State | Idaho |
County | Kootenai |
Location | Bayview |
- elevation | 2,054 ft (626 m) |
- coordinates | 47°57′54″N 116°34′55″W / 47.965°N 116.582°WCoordinates: 47°57′54″N 116°34′55″W / 47.965°N 116.582°W |
Area | 4,000 acres (1,620 ha) |
Founded | 1964, 53 years ago |
Management | Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation |
IUCN category | V - Protected Landscape/Seascape |
Farragut State Park is a state park in the northwest United States, located in northern Idaho at the southern tip of the Lake Pend Oreille in the Coeur d'Alene Mountains.
The 4,000-acre (16.2 km2) park is 5 miles (8 km) east of Athol in Kootenai County, about 30 miles (50 km) northeast of Coeur d'Alene. Activities include camping, picnicking, hiking, mountain biking, cycling, fishing, boating, swimming, water sports, orienteering, disc golf, flying model aircraft, archery, and horseback riding.
The site formerly held the Farragut Naval Training Station, a major training base of the U.S. Navy during World War II. The base was named after David Farragut (1801–1870), the first admiral in the U.S. Navy and the leading naval officer during the Civil War.
Ground was broken 75 years ago in March 1942 and its first phase opened in early August; by September the base had a population of 55,000, making it the largest city in Idaho. It was the second-largest naval training center in the world at the time, and liberty trains ran three times daily to Spokane, Washington, about an hour away. The base was visited by President Roosevelt and movie star Lana Turner, who spent her first six years in northern Idaho at Wallace. Roosevelt's visit in September 1942 was kept secret until he returned to Washington, D.C.