Day Trips: Water Gardens, Fort Worth
Stay dry while surrounded by cascading falls
By Gerald E. McLeod, Fri., June 5, 2015
The Fort Worth Water Gardens roar and whisper a liquid song. Compartmentalized in three below-ground water rooms, a mountain, and two plazas, each is a separate oasis.
The 4½-acre park has been a centerpiece of downtown Fort Worth since 1974. Over the decades the trees have matured to shade the plazas that serve as crossroads for locals and visitors. They all come to walk the pathways surrounded by the experience, sound and sight of running water.
The biggest and most popular of the three pools is the Active Pool. It's a large canyon with water rushing downhill on all sides. Looking up from the bottom gives the sensation that you're submerged. From any angle, the view is of an ever-changing landscape of cascading water. Scenes from the 1976 sci-fi movie Logan's Run were filmed here.
The spraying water in the Aerated Pool gives the visual illusion that the nozzles are producing a solid wall. Next door, the Quiet Pool's 22-foot stone walls are covered with running water and shaded by towering cypress trees around a reflecting pool. Somehow the roofless rooms absorb all the sounds of the city just a few feet away.
The Fort Worth Water Gardens are at 1502 Commerce, just south of the Tarrant County Convention Center in downtown Fort Worth. The park is free and open daily from 7am to 10pm. Wading was prohibited after 2004 when four people drowned in a terrible accident in the pools.
1,245th in a series. Collect them all. Day Trips Vol. 2, a book of "Day Trips," is available for $8.95, plus $3.05 for shipping, handling, and tax. Mail to: Day Trips, PO Box 33284, South Austin, TX 78704.
