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East
Texas' favorite "high place" is scheduled for a makeover
this year with the goal of bringing back the popularity it enjoyed
during the first half of the last century.
Perched atop a scenic forested ridge beside U.S. Highway 69 north
of Jacksonville,
Love's Lookout offers perhaps the grandest view in East
Texas. Visitors can scan a horizon that stretches into several
counties. Some are convinced that, on a clear day, they can see Louisiana. |
Love's Look Out
Photo courtesy C. DeWaun Simmons, October 2006 |
The view
Photo courtesy C. DeWaun Simmons, October 2006 |
The
ridge, part of a long, flat-topped hill that extends for nine miles,
has an elevation of 720 feet above sea level and rises 240 feet above
the surrounding terrain.
During
antebellum Texas, the hilltop was a popular recreation spot for townspeople
at Larissa, about
three miles to the west. With the advent of the automobile, the site
became popular for outings.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Depression-era Works Progress Administration
came to the hill in the 1930s and, using red rock mined from Cherokee
County, built a park, picnic grounds and an amphitheater used
for sunrise services, plays and other events. The park also had a
popular swimming pool and a dance pavilion.
In the 1980s, an earthquake -- one of the few to occur in East
Texas -- damaged the amphitheater and made it unsafe for public
use. The Texas Forest Service also built on the hill a forest fire
lookout tower that functioned into the 1980s until fire-spotting airplanes
made the tower obsolete. The metal structure still stands on the hill,
mostly as a historical relic, but park visitors are not permitted
to climb its stairs.*
During its heyday, it wasn't uncommon for families from as far away
as Dallas and Houston
to drive to Love's Lookout for a weekend picnic.
The
park's $1.2 million renovation project, a long-time goal of Cherokee
County leaders, will include an improved roadside rest area and
a new visitor's center designed to resemble a tomato packing shed,
a symbol of Jacksonville's tomato-growing heritage.
The renovation might help erase one of the old misconceptions about
the hillside.
Almost since its establishment, Love's Lookout visitors have always
thought the name came from the use of the hilltop as a lovers' trysting
place.
After 1910, the bluff acquired its present name to honor Wesley Love
of Jacksonville,
who in 1904 bought much of the surrounding area and planted a 600-acre
peach farm.
After Love's death in 1925, his wife donated 22 acres to the state
for a state park. The state, however, failed to create the park and
in 1934 the City of Jacksonville
purchased an additional 20 acres and developed the two tracts as a
city park. That's when the Works Progress Administration stepped into
the picture.
There are two great times to visit the hilltop -- in the spring, when
the dogwoods and other spring flowers are in bloom, and the autumn,
when the hillside is ablaze with red, purple, yellow and golden foliage.
© Bob
Bowman
All
Things Historical May
22-28, 2004 column
Published with permission
Bob Bowman is the author of 30 books about East Texas history and
folklore and a former president of the East Texas Historical Association
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Readers'
Forum
* I just wanted to point out a mistake
in the dates in your article about Love's Lookout.
You state: In the 1980s, an earthquake -- one of the few to occur
in East Texas -- damaged the amphitheater and made it unsafe for public
use. The Texas Forest Service also built on the hill a forest fire
lookout tower that functioned into the 1980s until fire-spotting airplanes
made the tower obsolete. The metal structure still stands on the hill,
mostly as a historical relic, but park visitors are not permitted
to climb its stairs.
This is incorrect. I was raised down in the valley of Love's Lookout
and I know first hand that the dates here are wrong. We moved there
in 1976. My father was the pastor of a little church down the Lookout
valley road that runes off the side of the mountain. It was called
the Mt. Hope church of the Nazarene at that time, the name latter
changed to Lookout Valley Church of the Nazarene. It is still there.
There was an earth quake in the 80's but the amphitheater was gone
well before that time. We use to play on the steps that remained.
The amphitheater had to have been destroyed before 1975. As for the
fire tower, it was not used when we moved there either. I know this
because we climbed it on numerous occasions; although I would never
climb it now.
I just thought that you would want to know this so that your web site
could be as accurate as possible. Thank you for your time, Kimberly
(Newton) Owens, April 24, 2005 |
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