Day Trips: Fairfield Lake State Park, Freestone County
Sad news with state park’s closure due to development
By Gerald E. McLeod, Fri., March 3, 2023
Fairfield Lake State Park closed permanently on Feb. 28. The Texas Parks & Wildlife Department delivered the dark news on Valentine's Day.
The 1,460-acre park in Freestone County about 75 miles east of Waco was a beautiful property on the largest privately owned lake in Texas. The rolling hills are covered in old-growth hardwood and evergreen trees shading more than 26 miles of hiking and biking trails, 135 campsites, two boat ramps, and a historic cemetery.
Encompassing the southern shoreline where three creeks empty into the lake, the park was a mix of lowland marshes and upland forest. The area is known for its prodigious bird population, including year-round resident bald eagles. The lake has long been a productive fishing hole.
Opened as a state park in 1976, the state had leased the property since 1971 from Texas Utilities. The lake was built in 1969 as a cooling pond for the Big Brown Power Plant, which was retired in 2018.
Vistra Energy, the current owner of the 2,400-acre lake, terminated the state's lease due to the impending sale to luxury home builder Todd Interests. Financial terms were not disclosed, but Vistra listed the lake in 2021 for $110 million. The former state park will likely become the site of mansions for millionaires.
The loss of any public land is heartbreaking, especially when you consider that when Palo Pinto Mountains State Park opens later this year, it will be the first new state park in North Texas in more than 20 years. TPWD oversees 89 state parks encompassing more than 640,000 acres.
Fairfield Lake is in the western transition zone of the East Texas Piney Woods. Remaining state parks in the area are Fort Parker, Fort Boggy, and Mission Tejas.
1,642nd in a series. Everywhere is a day trip from somewhere: Follow “Day Trips & Beyond,” a travel blog, at austinchronicle.com/daily/travel.
