Terry Hershey Park Follows Buffalo Bayou Through West Houston

Terry Hershey Park runs along about six miles of Buffalo Bayou in west Harris County. Its 496 acres hold more than 11 miles of trail, with shaded paths used every day by the Energy Corridor and west Houston.

The name carries the best part of the story. Terry Hershey fought in the mid-1960s to stop the banks of Buffalo Bayou from being lined in concrete. Because that fight succeeded, this stretch stayed a living bayou with trees and trails instead of becoming a paved ditch.

A walk here is not just exercise. It is a piece of Houston that exists because someone refused to let the bayou be paved.