Lockhart

INTERPRETIVE GUIDE LOCKHART S TAT E PA RK WELCOME TO LOCKHART STATE PARK! HERE, THE CLEAR FORK CREEK AND ITS LUSH, SHADY FORESTS HAVE ATTRACTED PEOPLE FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS. Fun and relaxation await you! Hike one of the meandering trails, fish in Clear Fork Creek, play a round of golf, or enjoy a night of peace and quiet at one of our campsites. However you experience the park, please do so responsibly! • Trash your trash. • Hike on designated trails and park in designated areas. • Respect wildlife by keeping your dog on a leash. • Ensure your own safety by not swimming in the creek. LARGE BLUFFS OFFER NEARBY ATTRACTIONS REMARKABLE VIEWS OF Palmetto State Park, Gonzales McKinney Falls State Park, Austin Bastrop State Park, Bastrop City of Lockart: the official BBQ capital of Texas! NATURAL AND HISTORIC BEAUTY, WHILE THE LOWLANDS AND CREEK OFFER A NICE RESPITE FROM THE HOT SUMMER SUN. TEXAS NATURE AND CULTURE Lockhart State Park 2012 State Park Road Lockhart, Texas 78644 (512) 398-3479 www.tpwd.texas.gov/lockhart COME TOGETHER IN THIS LITTLE PIECE OF THE GREAT OUTDOORS. © 2021 TPWD. PWD BR P4505-0047J (7/21) TXDOT TPWD receives funds from the USFWS. TPWD prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, disability, age, and gender, pursuant to state and federal law. To request an accommodation or obtain information in an alternative format, please contact TPWD on a Text Telephone (TTY) at (512) 389-8915 or by Relay Texas at 7-1-1 or (800) 735-2989 or by email at accessibility@tpwd.texas.gov. If you believe you have been discriminated against by TPWD, please contact TPWD, 4200 Smith School Road, Austin, TX 78744, or the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Office for Diversity and Workforce Management, 5275 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041. L O C K H A R T S T A T E P A R K PRAIRIE REMNANTS THE CIVILIAN CONSERVATION CORPS I Out of work, out of money, and out of luck. Many Americans struggled during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Hoping to combat unemployment, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), a national work program for single men between the ages of 18 and 25. Jobs in the CCC improved the American landscape and sustained the enrollees’ families back home. Enrollees planted forests, assisted with soil conservation projects, and built state and national parks. CCC “boys” earned wages and lived in military-like camps, which provided CCC men cutting wooden planks CCC men in front of the old swimming pool shelter, uniforms, food, and educational and vocational training. Would you have enlisted? CCC Company 3803 arrived in Lockhart in 1935 and built “Camp Colp” in honor of David E. Colp, a onetime Lockhart resident and the first chairman of the Texas State Parks Board. This camp was across the road from the park entrance. The young men used local lumber and stone to build dams along Clear Fork Creek, the recreation hall, the park residence, a swimming pool, water tower, water fountains, and primitive camping sites. These structures still stand today, except for the original swimming pool, which was replaced in 1974. Another work program, the Work Projects Administration (WPA), joined CCC Company 3803 to build Lockhart State Park’s 9-hole golf course. Upon completion in 1938, the course featured the highest tee box in Texas, which you can still see today. Recreation Hall under construction CCC Company 3803 at Camp Colp magine a landscape with tall grasses as far as the eye can see. Picture those grasses swaying in the Red-tailed hawk breeze and a herd of buffalo off in the distance. This is what Lockhart State Park looked like thousands of years ago. Lockhart State Park is located in the Blackland Prairie ecoregion of Texas that, prior to Anglo settlement, was dominated by bunch grasses like indiangrass, little bluestem, and eastern gamagrass. Back then, the prairie was home to buffalo, grey wolves, coyotes, birds, and small mammals. Today, the landscape looks very different due to farming, ranching, and development. Buffalo and wolves were hunted out of the area, and bunch grasses are no longer common, although they are being reintroduced. Look carefully during your visit and you may find remnants of the park’s former landscape.