Exercise stations are set up along the Library Loop Trail for those looking for gym alternatives. There, you will find a shaded children’s playground and a Library Loop Trail that joins the Comanche Loop Trail, leading to the tower. Additional bond money approved in 1999 provided funds to create the 96-acre public park.Ĭomanche Lookout Park’s official address is 15551 Nacogdoches Road, but I recommend that you park at the Julia Yates Semmes Library at 15060 Judson Road. A group of citizens joined together in 1990 to Save Comanche Lookout, securing an interim loan that the City of San Antonio repaid in 1994. Both men died in 1948, leading to the sale of the land.
![comanche lookout park comanche lookout park](https://www.austinchronicle.com/imager/b/original/2757178/0cd9/cols_daytrips-3.jpg)
Coppock purchased 100 acres in 1923, and he hired Tarquino Cavazos to build the medieval-styled stone tower. Spaniards later traveled from Nacogdoches to San Antonio along the Camino Real, which meandered past the base of the hill. It’s believed that Native Americans used this peak to keep an eye on enemy tribes and on wildlife watering at nearby Cibolo Creek. (Who knew that Bexar County had 59 named peaks?!) Regardless, the views from the top are beautiful, as is the four-story tower with a castle vibe. The City of San Antonio’s Comanche Lookout Park information says it’s the fourth highest point in Bexar County at 1,033 feet, but according to PeakVisor, it’s much further down the list, coming in at number 51. I’ve had a wee bit of castle withdrawal ever since, so I was happy to learn that San Antonio has a castle of its own.
![comanche lookout park comanche lookout park](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/36/83/79/368379f11930dfe1d0bd5ac443cca4f0.jpg)
More than 30,000 castles dot the Emerald Isle, and we saw more than our fair share, including the famous (and beautiful) Blarney Castle. (In a rental car, navigating narrow, hilly, windy roads from the left side, with natives who drive like bats out of hell, but that’s another story that’s best told while sipping a pint of Guinness Stout.) Just your basic city park.Last Christmas/New Year’s pre-pandemic, my family and I took a two-week road trip through Ireland, where we circled the entire island, starting and ending in Dublin. Comanche Lookout is an oasis of hill country nature on the edge of the city, and from the top of the hill at 1340 feet you can just make out the downtown skyscrapers in the distance. None of the trails are difficult or long, and the entire park can be circled and explored in one or two hours. I have visited the park twice, on March 5th and August 7th, 2008, just to walk around. Over the years, the park has been continually improved with several hiking trails and walking paths, picnic facilities and playgrounds.
![comanche lookout park comanche lookout park](https://s.hdnux.com/photos/62/24/76/13193093/5/1200x0.jpg)
Concerned citizens organized an effort to turn the remaining undeveloped land (by now whittled down to 96 acres) into a city park. A four-story stone tower and the foundations for a castle-like house were constructed before he passed away and the project abandoned.īy the 1990's, the hill was known mostly as a local hangout for rowdy teens, who would hold large bonfire parties and drink beer in the foundation pit at the top of the hill. Coppock decided to construct a fanciful fortress on the top of the hill. In the early 20th century, then-owner Colonel Edward H. Over the decades, it was carved up and sold to various parties. The Old Spanish Road that runs from Mexico to Louisiana runs across the base of the hill (now known as Nacogdoches Road).Īfter Texas became a state, the land was sold to Mirabeau Lamar (second President of the Republic of Texas), and was a vast expanse covering nearly 1500 acres. For centuries it was used by local indians as a lookout post, and then later by the Spanish.
![comanche lookout park comanche lookout park](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/R33ExN1BGjA/maxresdefault.jpg)
Located in the northeast corner of San Antonio, Comanche Lookout is the fourth-highest point in Bexar County (which isn't saying much - it's a hill about a hundred feet above the surrounding plain).