Karnack is a rural

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

in northeastern Harrison County near Caddo Lake in the eastern region of the U.S. state of

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

. The town is named after

Karnak The Karnak Temple Complex, commonly known as Karnak (, which was originally derived from ar, خورنق ''Khurnaq'' "fortified village"), comprises a vast mix of decayed temples, pylons, chapels, and other buildings near Luxor, Egypt. Constru ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...

(near modern-day

Luxor Luxor ( ar, الأقصر, al-ʾuqṣur, lit=the palaces) is a modern city in Upper (southern) Egypt which includes the site of the Ancient Egyptian city of ''Thebes''. Luxor has frequently been characterized as the "world's greatest open-a ...

). It was thought that the community's alignment with the city of Port Caddo was relative to that of Karnak and Thebes. The

Caddo Lake National Wildlife Refuge The Caddo Lake National Wildlife Refuge is a protected area of Texas managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service as part of the National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) System. It is located along Caddo Lake in East Texas. The area that curren ...

founded in 2000, formerly the

Longhorn Army Ammunition Plant The Longhorn Army Ammunition Plant (LOW) was a government-owned, contractor-operated (GOCO) facility in Karnack, Texas that was established in 1942. The Monsanto Chemical Company selected the site in December 1941 to produce TNT. The plant pro ...

in operation there from 1942 to 1997, is located in Karnack.

Geography

Karnack is located in the pine woods of Northeast Texas and beside Caddo Lake, one of the largest natural lakes in the Southeast. The surrounding country is mostly farm and timber land. According to ''The Handbook of Texas'', Caddo Lake was one of the largest natural lakes in Texas before the construction of Caddo Dam in 1900 made the lake even larger. It is often called Texas' only natural lake, but many small natural lakes and

oxbow lake An oxbow lake is a U-shaped lake or pool that forms when a wide meander of a river is cut off, creating a free-standing body of water. In South Texas, oxbows left by the Rio Grande are called '' resacas''. In Australia, oxbow lakes are call ...

s are found in Texas. The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild to cool winters. According to the

Köppen Climate Classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...

system, Karnack has a

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a zone of climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between latitudes 25° and 40° ...

, abbreviated "Cfa" on climate maps.

Education

Karnack is served by the Karnack Independent School District. Karnack Elementary School and Karnack Junior/Senior High School serve the community.

Notable people

Lady Bird Johnson Claudia Alta "Lady Bird" Johnson (''née'' Taylor; December 22, 1912 – July 11, 2007) was First Lady of the United States from 1963 to 1969 as the wife of President Lyndon B. Johnson. She previously served as Second Lady from 1961 to 1963 whe ...

, former

First Lady of the United States The first lady of the United States (FLOTUS) is the title held by the hostess of the White House, usually the wife of the president of the United States, concurrent with the president's term in office. Although the first lady's role has never ...

, born and raised in Karnack.

References

External links

* * * {{authority control Unincorporated communities in Harrison County, Texas Unincorporated communities in Texas