Visitors can explore 16,000-acre Lake Phelps and its surrounding landscape by land or water at Pettigrew State Park. The fishing is legendary and boaters with kayaks, canoes and shallow-draft boats will find easy launch sites. Also, nearby access allows boaters onto the placid, blackwater Scuppernong River.

Trails wind past some of the oldest, most majestic trees in the coastal region, and bikes are allowed on most trails. A 13-site family campground and a group campground are close to park amenities, and picnic grounds make good use of a shading cypress grove and grassy lawn. The park is rich in history with a display of ancient American Indian dugout canoes and the grave of a Confederate general.