Huntsville State Park

State park in Texas, United States

30°37′10″N 95°31′50″W / 30.61944°N 95.53056°W / 30.61944; -95.53056Area2,083 acres (843 ha)Created1956Visitors222,693 (in 2022)^[1]OperatorTexas Parks and Wildlife DepartmentWebsitehttp://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/findadest/parks/huntsville/

Huntsville State Park is a 2,083.2-acre (843 ha) wooded recreational area, six miles (10 km) southwest of Huntsville, Texas, within Walker County and the Sam Houston National Forest.^[2]

History

In the early 1930s, at a meeting of the Huntsville-Walker County Chamber of Commerce, it was suggested that a park be built around Huntsville. The Chamber of Commerce took the proposal to the Texas State Parks Board. The board required that the community provide the land for the park. Twenty thousand dollars in bonds would have to be sold by Walker County to pay for the land needed. In early 1936, the bond issue passed with more than four to one in favor of selling the bonds.^[3]

From 1937 to 1942, Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Company 1823(CV), an experienced company of African American World War I veterans, made initial improvements to the site, including construction of the combination building, the boat house, and the dam and spillway creating Lake Raven. The company also had to clear the future lake bed of standing timber before filling the lake. Other CCC projects in the park included a swimming platform, stone culverts, picnic areas, Lakeshore Road, a bridge, stone road-curbing, a well, water intake structure, and frame pump house. The spillway gave way after a 1940 flood and Lake Raven drained. This scuttled plans to build a bath house and cabins.^[2]

CCC Companies 873 and 1827 were assigned to the area between 1933 and 1937 for firefighting and flood control. They also built unpaved roads within the park, which have mostly grown over.

With the start of World War II, the CCC's work ended, but Works Progress Administration workers and prison laborers completed projects that included building roads and water and septic systems, allowing limited use of the park in summer months during the war.

A private contractor began repairs on the dam in 1955 and it was completed in April, 1956. The Huntsville-Walker County Chamber of Commerce dedicated and opened Huntsville State Park to the public on Friday, May 18, 1956.^[3]

Nature

The park is dominated by loblolly pine and shortleaf pine trees. White-tailed deer, raccoons, opossums, armadillos, and fox squirrels live in the park. 218 species of birds have been documented either on the ground or flying over the park. Lake Raven has crappie, bluegill, catfish and bass. Occasionally alligators have been spotted in the lake.

Notes

^ Christopher Adams. "What is the most visited state park in Texas? Here's the top 10 countdown". KXAN.com. Retrieved November 21, 2023.
^ ^a ^b The Look of Nature: Designing Texas State Parks During the Great Depression, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, April 23, 2014.
^ ^a ^b Huntsville State Park History, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, April 23, 2014.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Huntsville State Park.

Texas Parks and Wildlife Park Page
1969 home movie of Huntsville State Park from the Coltman Collection on the Texas Archive of the Moving Image

Protected areas of Texas

Federal

National Parks	Big Bend Guadalupe Mountains
National monuments and memorials	Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument Castner Range National Monument Chamizal National Memorial Military Working Dog Teams National Monument Waco Mammoth National Monument
National Historical Parks and Historic Sites	Fort Davis NHS Lyndon B. Johnson NHP Palo Alto Battlefield NHP San Antonio Missions NHP
National Historic Trails	El Camino Real de los Tejas National Historic Trail El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro
National Recreation Areas	Amistad Lake Meredith
National Wild and Scenic Rivers	Rio Grande
National Wildlife Refuges	Anahuac Aransas Attwater Prairie Chicken Balcones Canyonlands Big Boggy Brazoria Buffalo Lake Caddo Lake Grulla Hagerman Laguna Atascosa Little Sandy Lower Rio Grande Valley McFaddin Muleshoe Neches River San Bernard Santa Ana Texas Point Trinity River
National Forests	Angelina Davy Crockett Sabine Sam Houston
National Grasslands	Caddo Lyndon B. Johnson McClellan Creek Rita Blanca
Other Protected Areas	Big Thicket National Preserve Padre Island National Seashore

State

State Parks and Natural Areas	Abilene Albert and Bessie Kronkosky State Natural Area Atlanta Balmorhea Barton Warnock Visitor Center Bastrop Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley Big Bend Ranch Big Spring Blanco Bonham Brazos Bend Buescher Caddo Lake Caprock Canyons Cedar Hill Chinati Mountains State Natural Area Choke Canyon Cleburne Colorado Bend Cooper Lake Copper Breaks Daingerfield Davis Hill Davis Mountains Devils River State Natural Area Devil's Sinkhole State Natural Area Dinosaur Valley Eisenhower Enchanted Rock State Natural Area Estero Llano Grande Fairfield Lake Falcon Fort Boggy Fort Parker State Park Fort Richardson State Park Franklin Mountains Galveston Island Garner Goliad Goose Island Government Canyon State Natural Area Guadalupe River Hill Country State Natural Area Honey Creek State Natural Area Huntsville Indian Lodge Inks Lake Kickapoo Cavern Lake Arrowhead Lake Bob Sandlin Lake Brownwood Lake Casa Blanca International Lake Colorado City Lake Corpus Christi Lake Livingston Lake Mineral Wells Lake Somerville Lake Tawakoni Lake Whitney Lockhart Longhorn Cavern Lost Maples State Natural Area Martin Creek Lake Martin Dies Jr. Matagorda Island McKinney Falls McKinney Roughs Meridian Mission Tejas Monahans Sandhills Mother Neff State Park Mustang Island Old Tunnel Palmetto Palo Duro Canyon Palo Pinto Mountains Pedernales Falls Possum Kingdom Purtis Creek Ray Roberts Lake Resaca de la Palma San Angelo Sea Rim Sheldon Lake South Llano River Stephen F. Austin Tyler Village Creek Walter Umphrey Wyler Aerial Tramway
State Historic Sites	Acton Admiral Nimitz Barrington Living History Farm at Washington-on-the-Brazos Battleship TEXAS Caddo Mounds Casa Navarro Confederate Reunion Grounds Eisenhower Birthplace Fanthorp Inn Fannin Battleground Fort Griffin Fort Lancaster Fort Leaton Fort McKavett Fort Richardson State Park Fulton Mansion Goliad Hueco Tanks Kreische Brewery Landmark Inn Levi Jordan Plantation Lipantitlan Lyndon B. Johnson Magoffin Homestead Mission Espiritu Santo Mission Rosario Monument Hill Penn Farm Point Isabel Lighthouse Sabine Pass Battleground Sam Bell Maxey House Samuel T. Rayburn House San Felipe San Jacinto Battleground Sauer-Beckmann Farm Seminole Canyon Starr Family Home Varner–Hogg Plantation Washington-on-the-Brazos Zaragoza Birthplace
State Forests and Arboretums	E.O. Siecke I.D. Fairchild John Henry Kirby Masterson W. Goodrich Jones Ruth Bowling Nichols Arboretum Olive Scott Petty Arboretum
State Wildlife Trails	Great Texas Coastal Heart of Texas Panhandle Plains Prairies and Pineywoods