When Jones Lake State Park was at its peak as a tourist destination, people dressed when they traveled.

Ladies wore hats, and men wore suits and ties. Children often wore their Sunday clothes.

When visitors arrived at the state park, suits and dresses were stored in lockers in the large bathhouse while families swam, boated and had picnics along the water's edge.

Educational opportunities were largely the responsibility of the visitors, who might take a short hike along several rough nature trails around the lake. Some of the trails were converted from logging roads.

When the day at the beach was finished, swimmers showered and changed back to their good clothes before heading on to their final destinations.

"Our visitors are generally more casual now," said Greg Schneider, superintendent for Jones Lake State Park. "Park visitors in general want something more."

The large bathhouse is now a pile of rubble, most visitors to the parks' beach wear shorts and t-shirts, and rangers lead educational programs on topics from trees and animals to controlled burns.

The park recently began a $2.5 million renovation that will include smaller bathhouses and changing facilities.

A new state-of-the-art visitor's center will include instructional areas and displays on the lake's history, as well as its flora and fauna.

"There have been a lot of changes since the 1950's," Schneider said. "The facility was designed with the visitor of that era in mind. We're trying to get into the modern age."

The interpretive facilities in the visitor's center will concentrate on the wildlife and plants of the bay lake habitat, Schneider said.

While the display areas are still in the planning stages, the superintendent said he envisions interactive displays which can also cater to the vision and hearing impaired.

"We hope to have a lot of displays with the sounds of the forest and with things visitors can touch," he said. "We want people to be able to use all their senses to get a better idea of why this habitat is so special."

A concession stand at the visitor's center will also sell Jones Lake T-shirts and other items featuring the park's new logo.

The logo, drawn by a local graphic artist, is a drawing of the Hessel's Hairstreak Butterfly. The small green and brown insect is a species of special concern to the state, and is common around the lake.

The butterfly only exists where eastern white cedar trees flourish, Schneider said.

"We wanted to use something (as a logo) that people could actually see pretty easily at the lake, but not necessarily elsewhere," he said.

"We hope people will take a new look at us," Schneider said. "With some of the changes we're making, we hope to better serve our visitors and get them to make use of the lake."

Schneider said the renovations are in part due to a national trend toward less expensive, more family-oriented entertainment. The state hopes the new facility, and the renovations, will help draw more visitors to the park and to Bladen County.

The park staff also hopes to see a resurgence in local visitors as well as tourists.

"This used to be a focal point of the community," Schneider said. "We'd like it to become that way again."

The new visitor's center will also have a meeting room that can be rented by private groups and organizations.

"People want to be able to offer something extra when groups get together," Schneider said. "We'll be able to do that with the new facility."

Ranger's offices will also be moved into the visitor's center, to provide better security and get park personnel "closer to where the people are," Schneider said.

"We need to be accessible to help people better enjoy their visit," he said.

Other areas of the visitor's center will be used for displays on the history and culture of the lake, from the times of the American Indians through the modern age.

A new ranger will be assigned the task of creating and maintaining the displays, Schneider said. Interviews for that position began Monday.

A dugout canoe recovered from the lake will likely be displayed, Schneider said, as well as artifacts from the colonial era, the naval stores industry, and the early day of Jones Lake State Park.

When Jones Lake first came under the state's control in the late 1930's, it was one of the first state park facilities set aside for use by blacks.

A 1941 newspaper article notes that the "recreational facility for Negroes in Bladen County" was "almost as nice as those for Whites."

The lake was known for a time as "Black Lake," since whites usually frequented nearby White Lake. Use of some facilities by both blacks and whites was forbidden by law. Jones Lake was one of the few state parks where blacks could swim, picnic, and enjoy the outdoors.

"We plan to have displays about the entire history of the lake," Schneider said. "Segregation was a terrible thing, and an unjust thing, but that's a part of the entire culture of the lake."

A 1956 map of the lake, outlining the boundaries of the state park and the state forest, may also be displayed.

Schneider said he found the map in a closet of the old barracks, which currently serves as the office building for the site. The map was drawn when the lake property was separated from the state forest.

"This was too important not to save," he said.

The renovation project will include moving the park's entrance farther from the maintenance areas. Trails will be improved, and in some areas, rerouted.

Over $20,000 of work will be done on trails at the site, Schneider said. Gravel will be spread in some areas, and walkways erected over boggy ground.

"Many people want to be able to hike without getting their feet wet," Schneider said. "When the trails are completed, you'll be able to go for a hike without getting your sneakers muddy."

Due to the state budget crisis-which put the project in doubt-park personnel are doing some of the work to help cut down on project costs, Schneider said. Local companies are being used for other parts of the project.

The project is scheduled to be completed next year, Schneider said. While the bathing facilities are being rebuilt, portable toilets will take the place of bathrooms.

Schneider said a screened, roofless room with benches may be erected to provide visitors some privacy while changing clothes.

"It's going to be difficult for a while," he said. "The changes are going to take some getting used to, but I'm confident we can work with the contractor to make things go as smoothly as possible."

The bathhouse and facilities currently being demolished aren't the first recreational facilities built and torn down by the state at Jones Lake.

The 1956 structures replaced a 1938 or 1939 building, Schneider said. The first bathhouse was said to be made of peeled logs.

Park officials hope area residents will contribute or loan images of that building, or other activities at the lake, for display in the new visitor's center.

Some photos of the lake in its recreational infancy show knee-deep grass almost to the water's edge, Schneider said. Scrub oaks and second growth pines grew haphazardly around the lake's edge.

The young trees, grass and weeds flourished as the area was timbered over in the early part of the 20th century.

Today, trees in the picnic areas and along the beach are labeled with their species. Most of the native plants in the recreational areas are designated with similar tags.

"And we keep the grass cut," Schneider laughed. "They had different landscaping priorities back then."

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