STEPHEN F. AUSTIN STATE HISTORICAL PARK. Stephen F. Austin State Historical Park is off Farm Road 1458 just east of Sealy in Austin County. The 667.4-acre park, named after the well-known empresario Stephen F. Austin, is situated on a scenic bend of the Brazos River. It occupies the original site of the historic community of San Felipe, which served as the seat of government for the Austin colony and was the location of the conventions of 1832 and 1833 and the Consultation of 1835qv. The area was given to the state in 1940 by the San Felipe de Austin Corporation and the San Felipe Park Association. Nothing of the original settlement now remains, but the town well, an early general store and museum, and a monument and statue of Stephen F. Austin mark the site. The heavily-wooded bottomland is home to a wide variety of animals, including deer, raccoons, skunks, armadillos, opossums, foxes, and squirrels. Among the facilities are picnic areas and playgrounds, a short hiking trail, a swimming pool, and an eighteen-hole golf course.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Ray Miller, Texas Parks (Houston: Cordovan, 1984).
