Terry Hershey Park (a.k.a. Buffalo Bayou Park)

Play and Bike Along the Bayou

Terry Hershey Park is part of a comprehensive hike and bike trail system spanning the distance between the West Sam Houston Toll Road and Highway 6.  It is 496 acres with over 12 miles of trails. There are multiple access points for hiking and biking but only two if you are looking to play, Terry Hershey Park and, from the lot off of the Beltway, Memorial Bend Pocket Park (but you’ll need to hike in 1/4-1/2 mile).  We’ve outlined all the access points below in our ‘Know Before You Go‘ section.

Terry Hershey Park is part of the Precinct 3 system and established in the 80’s as Buffalo Bayou Park.  If you decide to go out onto the hike and bike trails some are called the Buffalo Bayou Bike Trails and some are called Terry Hershey Hike & Bike Trails.  They run the same area so many will use the terms interchangeably.

Terese Tarlton Hershey spearheaded several improvement campaigns from planting wildflower seeds to trees along Mayde Creek and she was the driving force for upgrading and paving the trails along Buffalo Bayou.  To honor her contribution the park was renamed Terry Hershey Park in 1991.

When you first enter the park from Memorial Drive there is an ample parking lot.  However, it does connect to the hike and bike trails so I could see it become quite full at times.  There is another lot at the north end of the park off the 1-10 feeder.

Terry Hershey Park sits on South Mayde Creek where it meets Buffalo Bayou.  There is fencing running along the water’s edge.  It is a lovely spot and has some feathered friends who are very friendly.  They came waddling out to the parking lot to greet us.

The park is very clean. The woodchips beneath the play structure had been replenished recently and everything is nicely maintained.

The play structure is older but it looks like the slides have been upgraded from the original leg-scalding metal to hard plastic. The kids loved it.  They really don’t care about a little peeling paint!

Additionally, this park has some fun features – swings, of course!

If you head north of the play structure there is a large gazebo with electrical.  Just through the gazebo is a sundial where you use your body to tell the time.  My kids loved it!

And, past that is a large swathe of open green space.  We did not really get to explore much further because it started to rain (yay, Texas!) but overall it is a nice little park.  Your kids will love it and it has the things that parents look for – like, cleanliness, bathrooms, and ample seating.

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Location

The physical address is: 15200 Memorial Dr, Houston, TX 77079

Know Before You Go

• There are restrooms as you enter from the parking lot off Memorial Dr. near two pavilions and the play structure.
• This is a long and winding park due to the bike trails (which are paved). It runs along the banks of South Mayde Creek and Buffalo Bayou between Hwy 6 and Beltway 8.
• You can access the bike trails from several places:
  • Just south of the park’s Memorial entrance is another parking lot for the trails.
  • There is a parking lot on the north end of the park off the I-10 feeder (between Hwy. 6 and North Eldridge).
  • On the western end of the trail is another lot on the southbound side of Hwy. 6. Here the trail connects to the George Bush Park trails.
  • At the Kendall Community Center on North Eldridge, south of Memorial Dr. is another lot and access point.  The Anthills are southeast of here.
  • Another lot is south of Memorial Dr. & north of Briar Forest Dr., on the east side of Dairy Ashford.
  • The easiest lot to miss is the lot off Beltway 8 where the frontage road has two-way traffic (between Briar Forest Dr. and Memorial Dr.) because it looks like you will park under the tollway (which, you kind of do). If you want to go to the Memorial Bend Pocket Park, this is where you need to park and walk in (about 1/4 – 1/2 miles).

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