Bastrop State Park

Off State Highway 71 just east of Bastrop. Park information: 512-321-2101.

Entrance fee; $5.00 per person, over 65 with Senior Pass $3.00, 12 and under free Passport; $70 per year.

Bastrop State Park was created in the 1930’s when the CCC was building parks to create jobs for unemployed young men. Few such programs have produced such lasting benefits. The city of Bastrop, the Vaughn Lumber Company and several individuals gave the state the original 2,100 acres here. The Parks and Wildlife Department bought another 1,450 acres in 1979; so this is one of our larger parks and it has about everything a park can have except frontage on a big lake or river. The lake here is a very small one. The Colorado River is a couple of miles away. But Bastrop Park has a pine and oak forest, a swimming pool, camp grounds and cabins, and provisions for groups of up to 100 people.

The pines here are some of the Lost Pines of Texas, about 80 miles west of the main pine forest in East Texas. The pines supposedly got started here during the Pleistocene Period because climate was wetter then and because the soil was and is porous and acidic due to deposits laid down by the Colorado when it was a much bigger river.

This area was part of Stephen F. Austin’s colony before the Texas Revolution. The town of Bastrop was established in 1829 at the point where the old Camino Real crossed the Colorado. State Highway 21 along the west boundary of the park follows the route of the Camino Real. Some of the great personalities of the early days passed this way. Davy Crockett came by here on his way to the Alamo.

Birds and birdwatchers are attracted to the forest here. The park office has checklists of the birds you can expect to find in Bastrop and Buescher parks. There is a hiking trail and a scenic drive connecting with Buescher Park to the east.

The swimming pool is open May-September. There is an admission fee, call 512-321-2101 for more information.