Martin Dies, Jr. State Park

Martin Dies, Jr. State Park covers 705 acres in three units in Jasper and Tyler counties, between Woodville and Jasper, where the Neches and Angelina rivers meet at the edge of the Big Thicket. Nearly 14 miles of paddling trails cross sloughs, the Neches River and the lake, and the park also has hiking and biking trails, a nature center, and more than 200 campsites, many beside the lake or a slough. Anglers fish the B.A. Steinhagen Reservoir.

The reservoir is why the park exists. Officials broke ground on Dam B on September 12, 1947, to bring jobs, development, recreation, flood control and water conservation. Texas Parks and Wildlife leased the land from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1964 and opened it in 1965 as Dam B State Park, and the Parks and Wildlife Commission renamed it that year for Martin Dies, Jr. He was a state senator who backed the park, later Texas Secretary of State, and from 1971 to 1989 Chief Justice of the Ninth Court of Appeals in Beaumont.

Earlier eras left traces. The park's history says Hasinai Caddo lived in the Neches valley until they were forced out in the 1830s, that steamboats worked the river in the mid-1800s, and that the first railroad reached Tyler County in 1882. Most of the forest is second growth, with some old-growth trees. The park is at 634 Park Road 48 South, open daily 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Entry is $4 for adults, free for children 12 and under.