jduncan Wrote:
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> I've been taking my kids to the Dallas Nature
> Center (7171 Mountain Creek Parkway) for about 15
> years now. The name has changed recently: it's the
> Cedar Ridge Preserve, maintained by Audubon
> Dallas. I've always found the area especially
> lovely, in a low-key, Dallas-beautiful way, with
> bluebonnets, yucca, and the smell of junipers,
> combined with a higher elevation than most parts
> of the city. Plus, the price is right for hiking
> the preserve. (There is a suggested $3 donation).
>
> What interests me is trying to figure out what the
> area was like before: before there was a lake (Joe
> Pool) on one side and a lot of homes on the other.
> Who might have settled in this area? It seems
> pretty clear that the development here is fairly
> recent, but there must have been a few families
> associated with the area long before. It wouldn't
> surprise me if there had been settlers here by the
> 1850's, and I wonder, too, about Native American
> settlements. It just seems like such an obvious
> place to put down roots.
>
> I do have one little nugget of information about
> the Veterans' Cemetery, a few miles to the north
> on Mountain Creek Parkway. A friend of mine tells
> me that her father and mother, both living in Oak
> Cliff then, went courting and picnicking on the
> slopes above the lake in the late 1940's. And now
> her father's buried there, in the national
> cemetery---as is my father.
>
> I would love to find out more about the history of
> a beautiful area that has become increasingly
> meaningful to me.
Hi, I don't know exact names of the family who owned what is now Cedar Ridge Preserve and what was once the Dallas Nature Center. My family and I have been going there since the 1980's. There used to be two houses on the property. The main ranch house was used for the gift shop and also had a swimming pool in back. Sure wish a proper sign would be placed to inform visitors about the history. The land was used for cattle ranching. Don't know if the ranch extended across what is now 1382. I was told that before we started coming, the trails included land further north and included the small lake. People would ride horses to the small lake and back. Not referring to Cattail pond. Someone said that Foxworth Galbreth donated the land and sometime later asked for the northern portion back. Don't know the accuracy of that.
I do remember when you could walk to certain boundaries on the place and not see houses. Things sure have changed. The Road Escarpment Trail wasn't nearly as eroded as it is now. It was common to see trucks driving down it. At that time someone lived in the smaller ranch house. Might have been a caretaker. There are some lesser known trails/roads on the property that are so overgrown most people don't know they exist. You can still find some of the cattleguards on them. Things sure have changed.
I'd imagine that the family who ran and owned the ranch may have known the family that owned the farm where Cedar Hill State Park is at. Think their last name was Penn.
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> I've been taking my kids to the Dallas Nature
> Center (7171 Mountain Creek Parkway) for about 15
> years now. The name has changed recently: it's the
> Cedar Ridge Preserve, maintained by Audubon
> Dallas. I've always found the area especially
> lovely, in a low-key, Dallas-beautiful way, with
> bluebonnets, yucca, and the smell of junipers,
> combined with a higher elevation than most parts
> of the city. Plus, the price is right for hiking
> the preserve. (There is a suggested $3 donation).
>
> What interests me is trying to figure out what the
> area was like before: before there was a lake (Joe
> Pool) on one side and a lot of homes on the other.
> Who might have settled in this area? It seems
> pretty clear that the development here is fairly
> recent, but there must have been a few families
> associated with the area long before. It wouldn't
> surprise me if there had been settlers here by the
> 1850's, and I wonder, too, about Native American
> settlements. It just seems like such an obvious
> place to put down roots.
>
> I do have one little nugget of information about
> the Veterans' Cemetery, a few miles to the north
> on Mountain Creek Parkway. A friend of mine tells
> me that her father and mother, both living in Oak
> Cliff then, went courting and picnicking on the
> slopes above the lake in the late 1940's. And now
> her father's buried there, in the national
> cemetery---as is my father.
>
> I would love to find out more about the history of
> a beautiful area that has become increasingly
> meaningful to me.
Hi, I don't know exact names of the family who owned what is now Cedar Ridge Preserve and what was once the Dallas Nature Center. My family and I have been going there since the 1980's. There used to be two houses on the property. The main ranch house was used for the gift shop and also had a swimming pool in back. Sure wish a proper sign would be placed to inform visitors about the history. The land was used for cattle ranching. Don't know if the ranch extended across what is now 1382. I was told that before we started coming, the trails included land further north and included the small lake. People would ride horses to the small lake and back. Not referring to Cattail pond. Someone said that Foxworth Galbreth donated the land and sometime later asked for the northern portion back. Don't know the accuracy of that.
I do remember when you could walk to certain boundaries on the place and not see houses. Things sure have changed. The Road Escarpment Trail wasn't nearly as eroded as it is now. It was common to see trucks driving down it. At that time someone lived in the smaller ranch house. Might have been a caretaker. There are some lesser known trails/roads on the property that are so overgrown most people don't know they exist. You can still find some of the cattleguards on them. Things sure have changed.
I'd imagine that the family who ran and owned the ranch may have known the family that owned the farm where Cedar Hill State Park is at. Think their last name was Penn.