Mother Neff State Park

Noah and Isabella Neff of Virginia bought 900 acres in 1852, including all of what is now the park. Neighbors called her Mother Neff. She invited people to gather along the Leon River, and the family refused payment for the use of the land. Their youngest of nine children, Pat Neff, became governor of Texas.

Isabella Neff died in 1921, and her will gave six acres of her favorite spot to the State of Texas for a park. Pat Neff first developed it as Neff Memorial Park. The State Parks Board became official in 1923 and began accepting private land, and in 1934 Neff donated the family park, 250 acres in all. The park officially opened in 1937. TPWD describes it as one of the first parks in the state system.

CCC Company 817, more than 200 men, worked here from 1934 to 1938. They built roads, trails, picnic areas, a pavilion, a recreation hall, a concession hall and a stone water tower with an observation deck. About 3.5 miles of trail run through canyons and prairie to the Wash Pond, the CCC rock tower and a cave the Tonkawa used in the 1800s. The Leon River has flooded the lower park several times; the visitor center, opened in January 2015, and the new camping loop sit above the floodplain.