1. Texas History

The state parks are full of artifacts that tell the story of Texas’ ancient history. Mineral Wells Fossil Park and many other sites include vast marine fossils dating back 300 million years when Texas was a big sea. Dinosaur artifacts are plentiful in Dinosaur Valley State Park and the Heritage Museum of the Texas Hill Country. Seminole Canyon State Park has impressive Native American wall paintings that date back 4-5,000 years. The Waco Mammoth National Monument is an amazing discovery where herds of Columbian mammoths were trapped in a flood around 67,000 years ago.

2. The Beginning – Pat Neff/Mother Neff State Park

The Texas State Park system was launched in 1923 by Governor Pat Neff (President of Baylor 1932-1947 Sic Em!). His mother Isabella Neff “Mother Neff” donated six acres just south of Waco along the Leon River for what would become Mother Neff State Park – the first official state park in 1937. It’s a beautiful place… with lots of history. A devout Christian, Mother Neff used her property extensively for community gatherings as well as hospitality for cowboys on the Chisolm Trail.

3. Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)

The CCC was a New Deal program under Franklin Roosevelt during the Great Depression to put America back to work. It proved critical to the nation’s recovery. The CCC hired an army of over 3 million men, usually organized into companies of 200, to enhance the natural infrastructure of America. The CCC operated 4,500 camps in national and state parks and forests – building roads, camps, trails, dams and other infrastructure. The Civilian Conservation Corps was instrumental in building the Texas State Park system – including 29 of our parks

4. Head Start – LBJ

Having helped launch Lionheart Children’s Academy (a spiritually-rich childcare company), I was interested to come across one of the first “Head Start” facilities near the LBJ State Park in Stonewall, TX. Lyndon B Johnson championed the launch of Head Start as a federal program in 1965 to improve school readiness for children in lower income families. Head Start now serves over 1 million children across the country.

Who knew that Texas has awesome birding! I feel old and nerdy just writing that. The Great Texas Coastal Birding Trail winds through 43 Texas counties along the entire Texas coast. Completed in April 2000, the trail features 308 distinct wildlife viewing sites. The World Birding Center is another network of 9 sites in the Rio Grande Valley includes three state parks. Birders come from all over the world to enjoy Texas birds

6. Butterflies

Sometimes if you leave your travel plans a bit open, God will throw you some “lagnappe” – a little extra fun! I fell upon the National Butterfly Center in Mission, TX on the way to Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park. Amazing variety of butterflies in intricate gardens. Magical. Falcon State Park and several others had dedicated sites for butterflies.

Fun Facts: Nearly 150 species of butterflies can be seen only in the Lower Rio Grande Valley (LRGV) of Texas or Mexico. Almost 40% of the 700+ US butterflies can be seen in this three-county area at the southernmost tip of Texas

7. Dark Sky

Four state parks are International Dark Sky Parks (Big Bend Ranch, Copper Breaks, Enchanted Rock, South Llano) – which means they have low light pollution making for great stargazing. I have never seen stars so brilliant as in the Big Bend area- one of the best locations in the US. The McDonald Observatory near Fort Davis has cool “Star Parties” that are worth the trip!

Toodling and Noodling, Stan

This is part 3 of a series of notes on my journey through the Texas State Parks.  To see Parts 1&2 click here