I had been putting this park off hoping to visit it as part of a “Texas History Trail Trip,” but time is getting away from me and we jumped on an opportunity in July on our way home from a visit with family in Houston. The nearly 500 acre park along the Brazos River is part of the land granted to Stephen F. Austin in 1821. The site of his actual settlement, San Felipe de Austin, is across the highway from the park and we managed a visit to the now historical site as well.

The state park offers a number of camping options and trails. We picked a 3/4 mile loop trail that would take us by the Brazos River. We enjoyed the shady stroll through the woods and were able to get a glimpse of the river at a higher than usual level. There was a damaged river viewing deck along the trail, but it was still roped off and in need of repair.

The kids noticed a bike washing station back at the bathhouse we parked by and thought that was neat and practical concept. After that, we left the actual state park and headed over to the historical aspect of the area.

The museum and historical site has done an incredible job preserving artifacts and recreating structures to convey what San Felipe de Austin’s main business district was like in the 1820’s and 30’s. Especially since the original was deserted and burned to the ground in 1836 during the Runaway Scrape.

We spent about 40 minutes in the museum with the interactive displays and exhibits before taking a literal walk through history outside in the recreated town.

I’m bummed we didn’t have the time to drive the extra 2 hours out of the way to visit Washington-on-the-Brazos to continue our history lesson. The kids really liked the state park though and thought some time spent camping amongst the trees would be nice sometime. So maybe we will make it back and can day trip up to it. The historical site we did visit was phenomenal though and would highly recommend to anyone.

-Lindsay