Caddo Lake, Uncertain, Texas
Uncertain, Texas is on the banks of Caddo Lake, close to the Louisiana border in East Texas. It is about 15 miles southeast of Jefferson, Texas. This shallow swampy lake is the only natural lake in Texas and no one has been able to completely explain why it was formed. There are several theories. But the age of the cypress which range up to 600 years old show that it's been here for a while. There is now a dam built to try to control the level of the water to some extent although it still varies greatly. This is truly a swamp with the huge Cypress trees and Spanish moss hanging in every tree. Many people have gotten lost on the lake and it would be a good idea to make sure you had a map and studied it carefully before you went out with a compass. Oh, forget that! Take a GPS device with back-up batteries. This is a big swamp!. It reminded me of the Atchafalaya Swamp in Louisiana. It has alligators, beavers, and lots of wild life including Blue Herons, different kinds of Ibis, Bald Eagles, and cottonmouth water moccasins. In addition, there are lots of fish in the lake.
Caddo Lake is named for the Caddo Indians who lived around the lake and in the area for hundreds of years before the Europeans arrived. They were a very friendly tribe and are attributed to be the source of Texas's name. When the Spanish first approached them, the story goes that they held out their hands in welcome and said Tejas which apparently meant "Friendly" as they were trying to make friends. But the Spanish thought they were saying that was their name, and somehow it stuck for the area. Of course, as you can imagine, the European response to their friendliness was not met in kind and the Caddo Indians eventually went the way of other tribes as there are no longer many people around who identify themselves as Caddo. Near Robeline, Louisiana there is a very small community of people who identify as Adaes Caddo, one of the different clans of Caddo.
I particularly wanted to post pictures of Caddo Lake for those of you outside Texas who think Texas is only desert or hill country. In Texas, we literally have almost any kind of geography you can imagine, maybe with the exception of a Rain forest, and even then some people think the 110% humidity in Houston makes it feel like a rain forest!
Caddo Lake, Uncertain, Texas
Uncertain, Texas is on the banks of Caddo Lake, close to the Louisiana border in East Texas. It is about 15 miles southeast of Jefferson, Texas. This shallow swampy lake is the only natural lake in Texas and no one has been able to completely explain why it was formed. There are several theories. But the age of the cypress which range up to 600 years old show that it's been here for a while. There is now a dam built to try to control the level of the water to some extent although it still varies greatly. This is truly a swamp with the huge Cypress trees and Spanish moss hanging in every tree. Many people have gotten lost on the lake and it would be a good idea to make sure you had a map and studied it carefully before you went out with a compass. Oh, forget that! Take a GPS device with back-up batteries. This is a big swamp!. It reminded me of the Atchafalaya Swamp in Louisiana. It has alligators, beavers, and lots of wild life including Blue Herons, different kinds of Ibis, Bald Eagles, and cottonmouth water moccasins. In addition, there are lots of fish in the lake.
Caddo Lake is named for the Caddo Indians who lived around the lake and in the area for hundreds of years before the Europeans arrived. They were a very friendly tribe and are attributed to be the source of Texas's name. When the Spanish first approached them, the story goes that they held out their hands in welcome and said Tejas which apparently meant "Friendly" as they were trying to make friends. But the Spanish thought they were saying that was their name, and somehow it stuck for the area. Of course, as you can imagine, the European response to their friendliness was not met in kind and the Caddo Indians eventually went the way of other tribes as there are no longer many people around who identify themselves as Caddo. Near Robeline, Louisiana there is a very small community of people who identify as Adaes Caddo, one of the different clans of Caddo.
I particularly wanted to post pictures of Caddo Lake for those of you outside Texas who think Texas is only desert or hill country. In Texas, we literally have almost any kind of geography you can imagine, maybe with the exception of a Rain forest, and even then some people think the 110% humidity in Houston makes it feel like a rain forest!