Stillhouse Park — Attraction in Texas

Serene stillness, a gentle breeze flowing, bringing the fragrance of mesquite and the freshwaters of the spring fed Lake Stillhouse. I wondered...why am I the only other vehicle here? Such a beautiful place, Stillhouse Hollow...once a fiercely guarded stronghold of local Native Americans, is a Texas legend, once the backwoods hideout for local outlaw stills making sour mash moonshine, and then after prohibition was repealed it became an infamous bastion for wanted outlaws and underground drug labs. Credit the Texas Rangers, FBI, Bell County Lawmen, and paid informants, with cleaning up Stillhouse Hollow. Today it is a bright and cheery mecca for waterskiing with the park's a Sundance of boat launches. Not ri mention the parks many picnic areas, each equipped with it's own BBQ pit. (Plenty of mesquite deadfall around to use in lieu of charcoal). The park opens around 7 a.m., and closes around 9 p.m. I chose not to go swimming and instead walked ariyndlooking at rocks. Was that a dinosaur bone in that limestone? Sure looks like. There are also plentiful Indian artifacts laying around for the pickins, should one have an anthropological itch to scratch. Hurry on down to Stillhouse Hollow park. And if you think you smell a little moonshine in the air, well, let's just say this place harbors a few ghosts from the past. Thank you all for reading this heartfelt review. John J. Pearce a/k/a...

Excellent place to go and reconnect with nature. The 6,430-acre lake is usually never crowded although it does get close during the warmer months of the year. You can drop your own boat in to go fishing and those who do not have motor boats, canoes or kayaks can rent them nearby. The lakeshore has sandy and rocky bluffs along the edge and most of it is forested. The water is clear, clean and gets pretty deep.They have a lot of sitting areas including two pavilions which are reservable and roofed benches spread throughout the lakeshore. If your looking for trails then you can go to the Chalk Ridge Falls Environmental Learning Center which is below the Stillhouse Hollow Lake Dam. The center has about five miles of hiking trails, including a one-mile nature trail along the Lampasas River, a spring-fed creek, a waterfall, bridges and several wildlife viewing points. They also have basketball, horseshoe and volleyball courts and the bathrooms are well maintained. Overall just a nice area to go to if you need to get away from the...

Visited here for the fishing. There are other services that we are not familiar with. We had to pay a 5 dollar park fee to get in. The front desk entrance has a very "mom and pop" feel. The attendant was very helpful. We were taking kids fishing, and kids do not cost anything to fish off their marina. There is a large u-shaped walkway with benches, awnings, and railings all the way around. It made fishing much more comfortable than usual. There is also and indoor fishing area inside the u-shaped walkway. It was a good experience other than no one was catching anything. There are tons of fish which is evident through the very clear water. There were about 20 people fishing and no one caught anything while we were there. The fish seemed wise 🧐. We will be going back just for the ease, convenience,...