FAIRFIELD LAKE STATE PARK
Fairfield Lake State Park is a state park located in Freestone County, Texas, United States, northeast of Fairfield on the shores of Fairfield Lake. The park is 1,460 acres.
The park was acquired in 1971-1972 by lease from Texas Utilities and was opened to the public in 1976.
Activities include camping, backpacking, hiking, horseback riding on approximately 15 miles of day-use equestrian trails, nature study, bird watching, boating or paddling on a 2,400-acre lake, water skiing, jet skiing, fishing, and lake swimming in a large, buoyed sandy area.
Fairfield Lake is home to several species of fish. You can reel in a bass, catfish or perch from a boat or the fishing pier. Anglers from all over Texas join in tournaments or enjoy the open water in a canoe or kayak. Fishing is best in early spring and into the summer.
Surrounding woods are comprised of oak, hickory, cedar, elm, dogwood and redbud, which offer sanctuary for many species of birds and mark the transition zone between the pine forests to the east and the prairie grasslands to the north and west. Wildlife found in the park include osprey year-round, bald eagles November through February, white-tailed deer, raccoons, foxes, beavers, squirrels and armadillos. Popular catches include catfish, bass, carp, freshwater redfish, and other varieties.
The history of the area around Fairfield Lake State Park resembles that of much of rural eastern Texas. Long occupied by Native Americans who hunted and fished its waterways, the land was first plowed in the mid-19th century and planted in cotton and corn by Anglo farmers and, about a third of the time, their African-American slaves. Following the Civil War, the crop-lien system took root. Blacks and whites alike worked in the service of the cotton crop until after World War II, when changes in American agriculture and increased employment opportunities away from the farm brought an end to the era of widespread cotton farming. Since that time, cattle ranching has prevailed throughout the region. The human population of the Brown Creek area, never large, is now widely scattered over the region. In this sparsely populated area, Texas Utilities built its dam, creating Fairfield Lake.