Exploring Some Austin ParksApr 17, 2012
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Reed Park - Front of Taylor Lime Kiln
Reed Park - Taylor Lime Kiln
Reed Park - Taylor Lime Kiln - Nancy Riley and Glenda Alexander
This morning Nancy and I went to Reed Park, a small six-acre city park in the Tarrytown neighborhood of northwest Austin. There is a swimming pool, picnic area and the usual playground equipment; but the attraction for us was the historic Taylor Lime Kiln built in 1871 by Peter Calder Taylor. It was originally known as P C Taylor’s Patent Perpetual Lime Kiln. It burned juniper to melt limestone into lime, which was mixed with sand and other ingredients to make mortar. The limestone was quarried in nearby Taylor Slough. In 1954, the land was given to the city by Mrs. Fagan Dickson. The park, which opened in 1955, honors her daughters, Roberta and Lucy Reed.
While we were there, Robin and Peggy Detlefsen arrived. We had a nice conversation with them. They had read about the park in the newspaper, just as I had. There will be a series of short stories about little-known historic places around Austin. I’m eager to learn about the rest of them.
We stopped for a quick snack at a McDonald’s restaurant before heading to the Wild Basin Wilderness Preserve off Loop 360 (Capital of Texas Highway). We hiked about half the trails in the preserve (about 1.1 miles): Arroya Vista => Triknee => Ledge => Falls Trail to the waterfall. Surprisingly, quite a bit of water was coming over the falls. We retraced our steps on the Falls Trail and then took the Laurel Trail back to the Environmental Education Center. Some of the trails are quite steep, ranging from 700 feet above sea level to 900 feet. We certainly got a good workout!
By the time we had finished our hike, the temperature had risen to 80 degrees. We sat on the porch at the Education Center for a little while enjoying the cooling breeze. We were very hungry by then so, on the way home, we stopped at a Subway for a late lunch. Then, on a whim, we stopped at Breed and Company to drool over their merchandise.
All this activity didn’t “stir up” my back much at all and my recently-injured knees didn’t complain either. This made me a happy hiker.
