Possum Kingdom State Park is a state park in Palo Pinto County,

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 ...

, USA, that was built in the 1940s by

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 ...

Company 2888 and opened to the public in 1950. It covers approximately , and lies in the

Palo Pinto Mountains The term Palo Pinto Mountains properly refers to a specific cuesta-like range of hills in western Palo Pinto County, Texas. The name ''Palo Pinto'' roughly translates to "painted stick" in reference to the juniper trees of the area. Isolated, ...

and Brazos River Valley of Texas. The park borders the large

Possum Kingdom Lake Possum Kingdom Lake (popularly known as P.K.), is a reservoir on the Brazos River located primarily in Palo Pinto County Texas. It was the first water supply reservoir constructed in the Brazos River basin. The lake has an area of approximately ...

, a lake known for its clear blue waters. Possum Kingdom winds for down the Brazos River, and has more than of shoreline. A privately owned store and marina in the park cater to

boater __NOTOC__ A boater (also straw boater, basher, skimmer, The English Panama, cady, katie, canotier, somer, sennit hat, or in Japan, can-can hat, suruken) is a semi-formal summer hat for men, which was popularised in the late 19th century and e ...

s and campers. The

Boy Scouts of America The Boy Scouts of America (BSA, colloquially the Boy Scouts) is one of the largest scouting organizations and one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with about 1.2 million youth participants. The BSA was founded ...

have a summer camp "Constantin" on the shores of Possum Kingdom Lake as does the

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams (philanthropist), Georg ...

at camp "Grady Spruce". Camp Grady Spruce is directly across from the most well known geological feature of the lake called "Hell's Gate", a channel which cuts between an island and a row of cliffs. The title of the song " Possum Kingdom" by

Toadies Toadies are an American rock band formed in 1989 in Fort Worth, Texas, best known for the song " Possum Kingdom". The band's classic lineup consisted of Vaden Todd Lewis (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Lisa Umbarger (bass guitar), Darrel Herb ...

is derived from Possum Kingdom State Park. On April 15, 2011, the park was closed due to

wildfires A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identif ...

, and was reopened on May 25, 2011. Due to Texas' severe drought, another breakout of wildfires that began on August 30, 2011 plagued the Possum Kingdom Lake area. The fires burned into September, and though the park was not damaged, 39 homes and 9 recreation vehicles were destroyed.Texas Forest Service as quoted by NASA accessed online at http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=52028

References

External links

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Possum Kingdom State Park ''Texas Parks and Wildlife''

PK lake 2011 FIRES webpageHome movie of Possum Kingdom State Park (1972)
home movie,

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 ...

State parks of Texas Protected areas of Palo Pinto County, Texas Civilian Conservation Corps in Texas {{Texas-protected-area-stub