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You are probably wondering what in the heck led us to the small town of Toccoa, Georgia, and to the Strongest Man Statue at Paul Anderson Memorial Park.

Yeah, I get it. I had a little bit of a how did we get here moment when I was stating there in front of Paul Anderson’s bronze statue.

You see, we were on a road trip and after checking out of our accommodations at Wildwater Chattooga, we wanted to do a little exploring so we took a different route for the first hour of our drive back toward Atlanta and then home to Dothan, Alabama. I had a visit to Toccoa Falls on our itinerary already (more about that soon) and did a quick check on Roadside America to see if I could find anything else fun along the way. When I saw that there was a World’s Strongest Man statue right there in Toccoa, it immediately caught my eye!

Matt really enjoys that nostalgic bodybuilder-type culture and while we checked a workout in Venice Beach, California off of his bucket list a few years ago, he had not yet been to a statue honoring the World’s Strongest Man. In fact, I wasn’t quite sure that he would even know who that was but I showed it to Jake and he immediately decided that we should SURPRISE Matt with a visit to see this statue honoring Paul Anderson. There was a lot of lead-up to this over the entire weekend with Matt wondering what this “big surprise was”. Jake even had him close his eyes as we approached Paul Anderson Memorial Park and got out of the car. He led him by hand down the road and when Matt was in just the right spot he opened his eyes to see Paul Anderson lighting a barbell right before his very eyes!

Who was Paul Anderson?

Great question! Because we are basically experts now let me share a little bit of Paul Anderson’s background with you.

A native of Toccoa, Georgia, and born in 1932, Paul Anderson was a world champion, Olympic gold medalist, Guinness Book of World Record holding weightlifter. This powerful man could squat 1,200 pounds, bench press 628 lbs, and deadlift a whopping 820 lbs. If you want to learn more about his international powerlifting career, the best resource would be the Paul Anderson Wikipedia page found here.

What I found to be even more impressive was his work in the state of Georgia. I am not going to lie, I may have teared up a bit reading the multiple placards at the entrance of Paul Anderson Memorial Park. You see, Paul had a deep concern for the future of young boys who were placed in prisons with adult criminals. He believed that they had a chance at a better future if given the opportunity and Paul, along with his wife Glenda, raised funds and in 1961 opened the Paul Anderson Youth Home in Vidalia, Georgia. Paul leveraged his weightlifting fame making hundreds of special appearances throughout the USA to raise money to support this new initiative.

The Paul Anderson Youth Home is still going strong today, celebrating 60 years of changing lives. I can’t be the only one kind of crying at this point right? I notice that I am very touched by stories of accomplishment and goodwill like this. So, I guess that is why I wanted to write a blog post about this special little park.

Visiting Paul Anderson Memorial Park

This small garden park is located at the corner of E Tugaloo Street and Big A Road in Toccoa, Georgia, and is open to the public 365 days a year. NOTE: Google maps says the address is 211 E Doyle Street but that took us elsewhere. The address 601 E. Tugalo St., Toccoa, GA that is listed on Roadside America took us to the right place. So, the red dot on the map below is IN the right place but the address shown by Google may be incorrect.

And do you want to know what is most impressive? (this is the moment when I get teary-eyed again). It was actually a group of 4th graders who came up with the idea to create a park honoring Paul Anderson. They researched his life and contributions and presented a plan to the Toccoa City Commission in 1999. And they made it happen!

The Paul Anderson Bronze Statue was created by Jerry McKenna of Boerne, TX. FUN FACT: my Dad lives there too! The statue is six feet tall and weighs over 800lbs, which basically means that Paul Anderson himself would have been able to deadlift his own statue.

In 2008 the park was officially dedicated to the memory of Paul Anderson. Different businesses within the community sponsor the landscaping each month and it is beautiful – a true garden park! I hope that you can make it by for a visit on your next Georgia road trip!

Click here to visit the Paul Anderson Memorial Park website with even more information about this local legend.