Mother Neff State Park

Mother Neff State Park is a small but historic state park located in Central Texas, near the town of Moody, about halfway between Waco and Temple. It’s actually the first and one of the oldest state parks in Texas, established in the 1930s, and it’s named after Isabella Eleanor Neff, the mother of former Texas Governor Pat Neff. He donated the land in her memory, and a lot of the original park infrastructure was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) during the 1930s, which adds a cool historical element to the place.

The park itself covers about 259 acres and is known for its peaceful, natural vibe. With about 3-1/2 miles of well marked hiking trails that wind through a mix of prairie, limestone bluff, and forested areas, plus neat features like a rock tower, which provides scenic views, and the Tonkawa Cave, a historic rock shelter used by Native Americans over 200 years ago for shelter.

It’s not a big park, but it’s a nice spot for a chill day hike, bird watching, or a low-key picnic. There’s also a campground with 20 full hookup sites featuring level cement pads, fire pits, and picnic tables. Just keep in mind that the park is in a floodplain area, so some parts of the park might be closed after heavy rain. In fact the lower 1/3 of the park was closed when we visited and appears to have been closed for some time. If you’re into nature, history, or just looking for a quiet spot to unwind, it’s definitely worth checking out.

For nature enthusiasts, the park offers bird watching opportunities, especially in the Washita prairie areas, and wildlife viewing near the man made Wash Pond or the Prairie Pond areas.

The park also has a small museum at the headquarters, showcasing the history of the area and the work of the Civilian Conservation Corps. While swimming and fishing aren’t currently allowed due to river conditions, there’s still plenty to see and do.

Park Review – Mother Neff State Park

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Location: Near Moody, TX
Type: State Park
Check-in/Check-out times: 2:00/12:00
Site Quality / Amenities: Very large granite areas surrounding the trailer pads along with a lantern pole, a fire pit and a picnic table. The trailer pads are concrete and level. The roads in the park are asphalt. Everything is exceptionally well maintained.
Access: North west of Temple on TX-236 (Mother Neff Parkway). Easy access even for a big rig.
Staff: The staff were friendly and helpful.
Cellular/WiFi: T-Mobile varied between 1 and 2 bars and was fast enough to be functional. Starlink was unobstructed and good from our site (15).
Nearby parks: We didn’t check out any parks nearby.
What we liked: Site 15 was a double wide site so we had plenty of room for the trailer and truck. Nice large outdoor area.
What we didn’t like: There was some road noise from nearby TX-236 but it wasn’t too bad. We had a lot of sun on our picnic table in the afternoon but site 17 wasn’t too bad. Site 14 had lots of late day shade as did site 12 and even maybe site 16. Any of these are good options and should be long enough for a big rig. The granite from the areas surrounding the trailer pad is easy to track inside the rig.
Verdict: This is one of the nicest Texas State Parks we have visited. We would definitely return.