Looking for something fun to do with what's left of the summer months? We have a suggestion—visit a CCC park, and enjoy one of summertime’s favorite pastimes: swimming!
You can keep cool during the hottest month of the summer exploring and jumping into some of the best swimming holes in Texas CCC Parks.
Who were the Texas CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps)? With an enrollment of around 50.000 men, the Texas CCC constructed trails, cabins, concession buildings, bathhouses, dance pavilions, a hotel and a motor court between the years of 1933-1942. Before they arrived, the state’s parklands consisted of 14 parks on about 800 acres, but by the end of World War II, CCC workers had helped create a system of 48 parks on almost 60,000 acres throughout Texas.Director of the historic sites and structures program at the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department in Austin and author Cynthia Brandimarte has provided a few photos of what she thinks are the best places to beat the heat . Fifteen CCC Parks invite you to swim in a lake, river or creek, while six CCC parks treat you to their own swimming pools.
Feel free to browse Cynthia’s picks, or read more about her book Texas State Parks and the CCC: The Legacy of the Civilian Conservation Corps (TAMU Press, 2013) here!
Possum Kingdom
Bonham State Park
Inks Lake
--Madeline Loving
