Park Road 4 Tree
The road route was designed to preserve large trees that would provide scenic interest.
Description
Park Road 4 is a 15.5-mile, two-lane scenic parkway that extends west from U.S. Highway 281 and terminates at State Highway 29 to the west of Burnet. It travels through Longhorn Cavern State Park and skirts the eastern edge of Inks Lake State Park. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) constructed the first several miles were in the mid-1930s to provide visitor access to the newly renovated Longhorn Cavern State Park. Works Progress Administration (WPA) workers extended the road west of the park headquarters in the early 1940s. The road connected with Farm-to-Market Road 2342, and was finally completed concurrently with the construction of Inks Lake State Park about 1942.
Between 1934 and 1942 the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and the State Highway Department built the eastern entrance portals, masonry bridges, retaining walls, two parking overlooks, culverts and guard walls. Large live oak and other trees were preserved by the CCC during road work, as indicated by historic plans and sketches. The CCC designed and installed additional plantings of native species at three locations along the roadway; the entrance portals, Longhorn Cavern, and Parking Overlook B.
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These low stone guard walls line Park Road 4 as it descends into Hoover’s Valley and Inks Lake State Park.
Park Road 4 Guard Wall
These low stone guard walls line Park Road 4 as it descends into Hoover's Valley and Inks Lake State Park.
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Parking Overlook A is overgrown and no longer used. The picnic facility was added circa 1960.
CCC Parking Overlook B
Parking Overlook A is overgrown and no longer used. The picnic facility was added circa 1960.
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One of the 62 stone and concrete culverts that pass under the park road.
Park Road 4 Culvert
One of the 62 stone and concrete culverts that pass under the park road.
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Another one of the 62 stone and concrete culverts that pass under the park road.
Another Park Road 4 Culvert
Another one of the 62 stone and concrete culverts that pass under the park road.
Source notes
Park Road 4 Historic District National Register of Historic Places Registration Form ftp://ftp.thc.state.tx.us/nr_program/Burnet%20County,%20Park%20Road%204%20NR.pdf
Project originally submitted by Larry D. Moore on September 21, 2014.
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