Daingerfield State Park is a

state park State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the sub-national level within those nations which use "state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on account of its natural ...

Morris County, Texas Morris County is a county located near the eastern border of the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2010 census, its population was 11,973. Its county seat is Daingerfield. Morris County is probably named for William Wright Morris, an early judge ...

southwest of Texarkana, including Lake Daingerfield.

History

Georgia Anna Connor, nee Chambers deeded the property to the State of Texas in 1935 and the park opened in 1938. The original improvements were made by the

Civilian Conservation Corps The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was a major part of ...

(CCC) between 1935 and 1939. This area was the center of the

iron industry Ferrous metallurgy is the metallurgy of iron and its alloys. The earliest surviving prehistoric iron artifacts, from the 4th millennium BC in Egypt, were made from meteoritic iron-nickel. It is not known when or where the smelting of iron from ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

; nearby is

Lone Star Steel Company Lone Star Steel Company was a company that operated a plant that produced steel in Lone Star, Texas. It specialized in making tubular steel with outer diameters ranging from 16 inches to 1.415 inches. In 2007, it was acquired by U.S. Steel for $2. ...

Nature

Animals

Daingerfield State Park is home to a variety of animals. Fish in the lake include

largemouth bass The largemouth bass (''Micropterus salmoides'') is a carnivorous freshwater gamefish in the Centrarchidae ( sunfish) family, a species of black bass native to the eastern and central United States, southeastern Canada and northern Mexico, but ...

crappie Crappies () are two species of North American freshwater fish of the genus ''Pomoxis'' in the family Centrarchidae (sunfishes). Both species of crappies are popular game fish among recreational anglers. Etymology The genus name ''Pomoxis'' ...

perch Perch is a common name for fish of the genus ''Perca'', freshwater gamefish belonging to the family Percidae. The perch, of which three species occur in different geographical areas, lend their name to a large order of vertebrates: the Percif ...

channel Channel, channels, channeling, etc., may refer to: Geography * Channel (geography), in physical geography, a landform consisting of the outline (banks) of the path of a narrow body of water. Australia * Channel Country, region of outback Austral ...

and

blue catfish The blue catfish (''Ictalurus furcatus'') is the largest species of North American catfish, reaching a length of and a weight of . The typical length is about 25–46 in (64–117 cm). The fish can live to 20 years. The native distribution ...

, and

chain pickerel The chain pickerel (''Esox niger'') is a species of freshwater fish in the pike family (family Esocidae) of order Esociformes. The chain pickerel and the American pickerel (''E. americanus'') belong to the ''Esox'' genus of pike. Taxonomy French ...

. Mammals such as

armadillos Armadillos (meaning "little armored ones" in Spanish) are New World placental mammals in the order Cingulata. The Chlamyphoridae and Dasypodidae are the only surviving families in the order, which is part of the superorder Xenarthra, along w ...

white-tailed deer The white-tailed deer (''Odocoileus virginianus''), also known as the whitetail or Virginia deer, is a medium-sized deer native to North America, Central America, and South America as far south as Peru and Bolivia. It has also been introduced t ...

beaver Beavers are large, semiaquatic rodents in the genus ''Castor'' native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. There are two extant species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers ar ...

rabbit Rabbits, also known as bunnies or bunny rabbits, are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also contains the hares) of the order Lagomorpha (which also contains the pikas). ''Oryctolagus cuniculus'' includes the European rabbit speci ...

s can also be found in the park. Birds include

pileated woodpecker The pileated woodpecker (''Dryocopus pileatus'') is a large, mostly black woodpecker native to North America. An insectivore, it inhabits deciduous forests in eastern North America, the Great Lakes, the boreal forests of Canada, and parts of the ...

yellow-bellied sapsucker The yellow-bellied sapsucker (''Sphyrapicus varius'') is a medium-sized woodpecker that breeds in Canada and the northeastern United States. Taxonomy The yellow-bellied sapsucker was described and illustrated using a hand-coloured plate by the E ...

s and

painted bunting The painted bunting (''Passerina ciris'') is a species of bird in the cardinal family, Cardinalidae. It is native to North America. The bright plumage of the male only comes in the second year of life; in the first year they can only be distingu ...

s. There are also many different reptile species such as the red-eared slider.

Flora

Daingerfield State Park is located in the

piney Woods The Piney Woods is a temperate coniferous forest terrestrial ecoregion in the Southern United States covering of East Texas, southern Arkansas, western Louisiana, and southeastern Oklahoma. These coniferous forests are dominated by several spec ...

East Texas East Texas is a broadly defined cultural, geographic, and ecological region in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Texas that comprises most of 41 counties. It is primarily divided into Northeast and Southeast Texas. Most of the region consi ...

with loblolly and

shortleaf pine ''Pinus echinata'', the shortleaf pine, is a species of pine native to the southeastern United States. Description The tree is variable in form, sometimes straight, sometimes crooked, with an irregular crown. The tree reaches heights of with a ...

being the dominant species. Purple wisteria,

honeysuckle Honeysuckles are arching shrubs or twining vines in the genus ''Lonicera'' () of the family Caprifoliaceae, native to northern latitudes in North America and Eurasia. Approximately 180 species of honeysuckle have been identified in both contin ...

white dogwood ''Cornus alba'', the red-barked, white or Siberian dogwood, is a species of flowering plant in the family Cornaceae, native to Siberia, northern China and Korea. It is a large deciduous surculose (suckering) shrub that can be grown as a small t ...

s and

redbud ''Cercis'' is a genus of about 10 species in the subfamily Cercidoideae of the pea family Fabaceae, native to warm temperate regions. It contains small deciduous trees or large shrubs commonly known as redbuds. They are characterised by simpl ...

s are also in the park.

Activities

The park offers picnicking; camping; boating (5 MPH speed limit); fishing; swimming in an unsupervised swimming area; hiking; and nature study. A seasonal concession (March - October) rents pedal boats and canoes. Tours may be arranged by special request. Year-round boat rentals are available.

Area Attractions

Nearby attractions include are

Lake Bob Sandlin State Park Lake Bob Sandlin State Park is located around Lake Bob Sandlin in Northeast Texas, in the Pineywoods region. The lake lies in Titus, Camp, and Franklin Counties, with a small part in the northeast corner of Wood County. The park covers 639.8 acr ...

Atlanta State Park Atlanta State Park is a state park in northeast Texas in the United States. It is located on Wright Patman Lake in northern Cass County, Texas, Cass County. Location Atlanta State Park is on the south shore of Wright Patman Lake, about northw ...

Caddo Lake State Park Caddo Lake State Park is a state park located in the piney woods ecoregion of eastern Texas and operated as a wildlife management area (WMA), Caddo Lake is the lake that the state park encompasses, and is one of only a handful of natural lake ...

Starr Family Home State Historic Site Starr Family Home State Historic Site is a historical site operated by the Texas Historical Commission in downtown Marshall, Texas. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. The museum was made a Recorded Texas Historic La ...

and the Morris County Museum. Area events include Wildflower Trails on the 3rd weekend in April, Jefferson Historical Pilgrimage and Mardi Gras Jefferson in February, and the Daingerfield Fall Fest in Daingerfield on the 2nd weekend in October.

Facilities

Facilities include restrooms with and without showers; picnic sites including a group picnic area with tables (not covered); campsites with water; campsites with water and electricity; campsites with water, electricity, and sewer; a group lodge (Bass Lodge - capacity 20 persons: five bedrooms and two baths)(weekend reservation for Friday or Saturday requires reserving both nights); an overflow camping area; an amphitheater on the lake side; a launching ramp; a boat dock; a fishing pier; and a fish-cleaning facility; 2½ miles of hiking trails; a playground with slides and swings; cabins with heating and air-conditioning, and kitchen facilities (linens and towels are furnished; but utensils, dishes, and silverware are not); Year-round boat rentals are available (also sell drinks, snacks, fishing supplies, and bait); and a Texas State Park Store is at the park.

References

External links

Daingerfield State Park
information from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
Film segment of Daingerfield State Park from ''Adventure at Our Door'' (c. 1959)
on the

Texas Archive of the Moving Image The Texas Archive of the Moving Image (TAMI) is an independent 501(c)(3) organization founded in 2002 by film archivist and University of Texas at Austin professor Caroline Frick, PhD. TAMI's mission is to preserve, study, and exhibit Texas film h ...

{{authority control Protected areas of Morris County, Texas Protected areas established in 1938 State parks of Texas 1938 establishments in Texas