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Books | Texas
History
Official Guide
to
Texas State Parks & Historic Sites
By Laurence Parent
Foreword by Carter P. Smith,
Executive Director, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
(Austin: University of Texas Press, 2018)
Illustrated. Pages 226. Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-4773-1540-8. $27.95
Review by Dr. Kirk
Bane
November 1, 2018 |
Initially
published in 1997 and revised eleven years later, Laurence Parent's
Official Guide to Texas State Parks & Historic Sites stands
as a truly indispensable reference for Lone Star travelers, and this
latest edition is better than ever! Parent, a photographer and writer
from Wimberley,
divides his volume into seven geographic regions: Big Bend Country,
Gulf Coast, Hill Country, Panhandle Plains, Pineywoods, Prairies and
Lakes, and South Texas Plains.
Gorgeous color photographs adorn almost every page of this splendid
book. Moreover, the author provides an informative essay, including
a helpful Visitor Information section, for each park and site, which
number more than one hundred, spread out all over the state. At the
beginning of his entry on Balmorhea
State Park, for example, Parent observes," In the dry desert flatlands
on the north side of the Davis Mountains, the clear, cold waters of
San Solomon Springs gush forth, creating a startlingly green oasis
of fields and tree-lined canals for many miles downstream. The spring
produces between 15 and 26 million gallons per day from a deep pool
in Balmorhea State Park. Its waters irrigate 10,000 acres in the farming
towns of Balmorhea,
Saragosa, and Toyahvale,
and even form a small lake…San Solomon Springs has drawn people for
thousands of years and still does today. People from near and far
flock to the pool during the hot summers for swimming and relaxation.
Scuba divers come from all over to dive in the clear, deep pool."
Or consider the author's vivid description of Daingerfield State Park,
across the state from Balmorhea. "Daingerfield State Park," he writes,
"known as the 'Cathedral of the Trees,' is sheltered by a unique mix
of massive 125-foot pines and scattered oaks. In spring, masses of
understory dogwoods adorn the forest with their white blooms, like
some sort of strange late-season snowstorm. The forests resume their
lush green appearance for the long days of summer, but in fall, as
temperatures drop and days shorten, sweetgums and maples dot the park
with splotches of orange and scarlet, an uncommon sight in most of
Texas."
A beautiful land with a storied past, Texas beckons travelers. Parent's
superb volume should accompany sojourners as they visit the impressive
state parks and fascinating historic
sites of the Lone Star State.
Dr.
Kirk Bane,
Book Review Editor,
Central Texas Studies
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