Terry Hershey Park Houston TX

Houston · Energy Corridor · 77079

Terry Hershey Park is the Energy Corridor’s backyard — 496 acres of Harris County Precinct 4 greenway running six miles along Buffalo Bayou from Barker Dam to Beltway 8, with more than 11 miles of trails threading through it and over 40 neighborhoods touching its edges. It’s named for the woman who saved this stretch of bayou in the first place, and in 2025 her park won its biggest vindication yet.

What you’ll find at Terry Hershey Park

The spine is roughly 10 miles of paved hike-and-bike trail along the bayou, connecting west at Barker Dam to the George Bush Park trail for a combined ride of about 22 miles. Mountain bikers know the dirt side better: the Anthills singletrack network near Eldridge, listed by riders at around 8 miles of rooty, surprisingly technical bayou-bluff trail. Along the way you’ll find playgrounds, exercise stations, picnic areas, gazebos, restrooms, the sundial plaza where your own shadow tells the time, the Molly Pryor Memorial Orchard off Memorial Drive, and water access to the Buffalo Bayou Paddling Trail, which runs all the way to downtown. Leashed dogs are welcome. Hours are 7 a.m.–9 p.m. daily; details on the official Precinct 4 park page.

The Terry Hershey story — and 2025’s good news

In the mid-1960s, conservationist Terry Hershey (1923–2017) — with help from a young congressman named George H.W. Bush — stopped the Army Corps of Engineers from stripping and concreting this stretch of Buffalo Bayou. That’s why the bayou here still looks like a bayou. The question returned after Harvey, when the Corps studied enlarging the channel through this very corridor. In May 2025 the Corps signed its final Buffalo Bayou resiliency findings and recommended advancing a stormwater tunnel to detailed design instead — no channel widening through Terry Hershey Park is in the recommended plan, and nothing is authorized for construction. Sixty years on, the bayou Mrs. Hershey saved is still winning.

Photo gallery of Terry Hershey Park

We have put together a complete photo gallery of Terry Hershey Park with descriptions of where the photos were taken and what they depict.

This article was authored by and all photos were taken by the staff of Houston Prime Realty.

Living near Terry Hershey Park

Few Houston parks touch more front doors — the Memorial-area and Energy Corridor neighborhoods line both banks, and for many of them the park is the commute, the gym, and the dog walk. Browse my Houston neighborhood guides or search Houston homes for sale — and if a bayou trail at the end of your street is the dream, call or text me, Kevan Pewitt, at (281) 500-7077 and I’ll show you which streets back right up to it.

Terry Hershey Park: quick answers

How long are the trails at Terry Hershey Park?

Over 11 miles inside the park — a roughly 10-mile paved spine from Barker Dam to Beltway 8, plus the Anthills dirt singletrack near Eldridge. Connect through to George Bush Park at Barker Dam and you’ve got about 22 continuous miles.

Did the post-Harvey flood study change the park?

No — and that’s the news. The Army Corps’ final May 2025 findings recommend taking a stormwater tunnel into detailed design as the preferred path — not enlarging the bayou channel through the park. Nothing is authorized for construction, and the natural bayou corridor stands.

Who was Terry Hershey?

Terese “Terry” Hershey (1923–2017), the Houston conservationist who in the mid-1960s — alongside then-Congressman George H.W. Bush — stopped the concreting of Buffalo Bayou. The park named for her in 1989 is the stretch she saved.

Last updated: July 2026. Trail conditions change with the bayou — verify current status with Harris County Precinct 4 before visiting.