Mammoth at Fort Parker 2nd day

Wednesday, 2 December 2020

This morning our campsite and the whole area around it was inundated with birds. The sky was overcast and gloomy, but there'd been no rain other than a light misting sometime in the night. I saw a million yellow-rumped warblers and robins; I heard a (probable) chipping sparrow or two. Also house finch, phoebe, cardinal, grackle, turkey and black vulture. Out on the lake there was a huge flock of pelicans sprinkled with cormorants and a few gulls. There were Great Blue Heron, of course--one seemed to like to spend the night right by our campsite--and a couple of Great Egrets.

 

 

 

Note from the morning:
While there is still some morning left, I need to put on my contact lenses and go do some "serious" bird watching. But that would mean taking a dog. And it's chilly. And I could just sit here with my computer and the space heater and sip coffee all morning....

And now it's raining. Pooh.

It only sprinkled a little, then stopped long enough for me to go fetch the leashes and slippers I'd left outside. But then it started dripping more. I have only good memories about Mammoth and the rain--so far. There are always pleasant things to do inside. And so far, every time we've had rain, we've been at a spot where we can look out and see water or birds or at least the rain drops falling.

Note from the time:
It appears to have driven away the little birds on water's edge, but I just saw a kingfisher race by. The pelicans are gone (no--they've just moved up a little), but the lone duck-like bird is still floating around out there. I think it's a pied-billed grebe. I frequently see one of them--only one--in the huge lakes we visit.

I wrote this review for campgroundreviews.com:
Lovely little park, nestled around the shore of Lake Parker. The trees are full of yellow-rumped warblers and robins; the lake with pelicans and cormorants. There's no litter at all--in fact, it's probably the cleanest state park I've ever been in and I saw the rangers out picking up stuff first thing this morning. And very quiet--of course, I'd expect it to be quiet on a weekday in December. I can hear road noise in the far distance.

Sites are asphalt; showing a little age but very usable. We were able to level without additional blocks. No roofs over the picnic tables but plenty of shade. The lake is to the south of us, so we could easily get a satellite signal, but sites away from the water might have trouble. The camping loop we're on has pull-thru sites on the water side and back-in sites across the road, up a slight incline and in the taller trees. Those sites have a partial lake view, obstructed by the water-side campers. Plenty of room between sites; you can see your neighbors but not hear them. Some sites are very long--ours held a 32' RV, a boat and a jeep. Some are much shorter
.
Water hookup worked fine. Only 30-amp electricity at our site; didn't check the others. AT&T cell phone signal fine.

The campground map indicated that there were a few walking trails, mostly along water's edge. On the first day Molly and I walked a little way along one--it was beautifully maintained and easy to follow. But we saw people up ahead and decided to turn back.

There was also a 2.5 mile trail up to a lake overlook, but I didn't get a chance to take it. The contour map implied it would be about a 20' elevation change. Instead, Ed and I took the dogs on the little trail over to the Lake Springfield cemetery; it was nicely maintained.
 

Note the "died of Mexican violence"

The park encompasses the historic town of Springfield, established in 1838. When Limestone County was created in 1847, Springfield was its first county seat.

Here is what the website says:
At its peak, Springfield’s population was greater than either Dallas or Houston. Springfield began to fade away in the early 1870s after the railroad bypassed the town and the courthouse burned. Groesbeck became county seat in 1873 and the Springfield post office closed in 1878. Springfield soon became a ghost town.

Only the cemetery remains. It is the final resting place of many East Texas pioneers, including an American Revolutionary War veteran and two veterans of the Battle of San Jacinto.

But another web site ways that it thrived from the 1840s through the 60s, but...

After local plantation owner Logan Stroud read the Emancipation Proclamation from the steps of his Bur Oak Springs planta-tion, racial conflicts and martial law plagued the community during the years of Reconstruction. Springfield found new life as a community of African-American freedmen after the railroad bypassed the town for Mexia and Groesbeck. Today all that remains of Springfield are the springs and the cemetery. Towering trees shade the graves of former Springfield residents including plantation owners, African-American freedmen, and early Texas Revolution veterans Sanders Walker and Joseph Penn Lynch.

I don't see it, though. There weren't very many marked graves in the cemetery. However, the area inside the fence was very large and had room for a lot of graves whose markers may not survive to this day. It would be interesting to see how many people were documented to have been buried there.

We walked back, enjoying the weather. It turned out to be a cloudy evening.