Bob Jones Nature Center

Bob Jones Nature Center and Park are named after John Dolford "Bob" Jones who was a slave and shepherd on his father's farm on the land where the Park is now. After the Civil War, Bob's owner returned to Alabama and left Bob, his mother and brother on the 60 acre farm.

In the 1990's the City of Southlake purchased part of the farm as a park and a section of the park was reserved as a Nature Center to preserve a part of the Cross Timbers ecosystem from development. The Cross Timbers is an ecosystem marked by a swath of trees extending from Kansas through Texas just North of Waco, and was a boundary between the great plains and the Southeastern forests of the U.S. Early explorers named it the 'Cast Iron Forest' because the dense understory of tangled thorny vines and shrubbery made it difficult to cross.

Bob Jones Nature is still home to many Cross Timbers species including white-tailed deer, coyotes, bobcats, fox- es, wild turkeys and many birds, as it is in the Central Flyway for migrating bird species.

Bob Jones Nature Center and Park provide a wonderful outdoor classroom for education in understanding the role of the Cross Timbers ecosystem in biodiversity as well as a respite from the noise and concrete of the city.

Tarrant County Master Gardeners implemented the design and the plantings around the Nature Center building in 2008 and have maintained and enlarged the gardens with Texas tough perennial natives in harmony with the education and preservation motif of the Nature Center.

There are many scheduled activities for children and adults at the Nature Center as well as 20 miles of hiking and equestrian trails and 758 acres adjoining Lake Grapevine.