Daingerfield State Park is a state park in Morris County, Texas 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: ''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 ...

; nearby is Lone Star Steel Company.

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, bu ...

, crappie,

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 Per ...

, channel 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 o ...

, 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 Fren ...

. Mammals such as armadillos,

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 or rabbits 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 ...

s, yellow-bellied sapsuckers 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 sp ...

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 cons ...

with Pinus taeda, loblolly and Pinus echinata, shortleaf pine being the dominant species. Wisteria, Purple wisteria, honeysuckle, Cornus alba, white dogwoods and Cercis, redbuds 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, Atlanta State Park, Caddo Lake State Park, Starr Family Home State Historic Site 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 {{authority control Protected areas of Morris County, Texas Protected areas established in 1938 State parks of Texas 1938 establishments in Texas