Enchanted Rock is a pink granite mountain located in the Llano Uplift about 17 miles (27 km) north of Fredericksburg, Texas and 24 miles (39 km) south of Llano, Texas, United States. Enchanted Rock State Natural Area, which includes Enchanted Rock and surrounding land, spans the border between Gillespie and Llano counties, south of the Llano River. Enchanted Rock covers roughly 640 acres (260 ha) and rises around 425 feet (130 m) above the surrounding terrain to an elevation of 1,825 feet (556 m) above sea level. It is the largest pink granite monadnock in the United States. Enchanted Rock State Natural Area, a part of the Texas state park system, includes 1,644 acres (665 ha).[4] In 1936, the area was designated a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark.[5] In 1971, Enchanted Rock was designated as a National Natural Landmark by the National Park Service.[6]
Enchanted Rock was rated in 2017 as the best campsite in Texas in a 50-state survey.[7] The State Natural Area had 307,686 visitors in 2022.[8]
The prominent granite dome is visible for many miles in the surrounding basin of the Llano Uplift. The weathered dome, standing above the surrounding plain, is known to geologists as a monadnock. The rock is actually only the visible above-ground portion of a segmented ridge, the surface expression of a large igneousbatholith, called the Town Mountain Granite,[9] of middle Precambrian (1,082 ± 6 million years ago)[10] material that intruded into earlier metamorphicschist, called the Packsaddle Schist.[9] The intrusive granite of the rock mass, or pluton, was exposed by extensive erosion of the surrounding sedimentary rock, primarily the CretaceousEdwardslimestone that is exposed a few miles to the south.[9]
Enchanted Rock State Natural Area and Conservation[edit]
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department partners with Friends of Enchanted Rock,[13] a volunteer-based nonprofit organization that works for the improvement and preservation of Enchanted Rock State Natural Area. Scheduled Summit Trail tours are on the third Saturday of the month starting April, May, September, October, November, and December. Private tours are available for groups at other times.
Visitors are asked to keep human incursion at a minimum by not disturbing plants, animals, or artifacts.[15] As of May 5,2024, dogs are not allowed on the summit trail.
Federal and state statutes, regulations, and rules governing archeological and historic sites apply.[16] The state Game Warden as a commissioned peace officer is authorized to inspect natural resources and take any necessary action for their preservation.[17]
Charles H. and Ruth Moss, by then having full rights, decide to sell the rock. First offer goes to Texas Parks and Wildlife but they cannot afford the asking price.
March 1, The Nature Conservancy, at the behest of Lady Bird Johnson, acquires the property for $1.3 million and agrees to act as interim owner until the State of Texas can take over, thus guaranteeing that the area will not be open to private development.
Archaeological evidence indicates human visitation at the rock going back at least 11,000 years, per the book The Enchanted Rock[23] published in 1999 by Ira Kennedy:[24][25]
These hunter-gatherers had flint-tipped spears, fire, and stories. With these resources, some 12,000 years ago, the first Texans became the wellspring of Plains Indian culture. Based on archaeological evidence, human habitation at Enchanted Rock can be traced back at least 10,000 years. Paleo-Indian projectile points or arrowheads, 11–12,000 years old, have been found in the area upstream and downstream from the rock. The oldest authenticated projectile point found within the present-day park is a Plainview point, dating back 10,000 years.
The rock has been the subject of numerous geological surveys and paintings.
In 2016, two citizens of San Marcos, Texas were arrested for vandalizing the "... south face of the summit at Enchanted Rock State Park". The summit was vandalized with graffiti again in 2018 but no arrests have been made in that case. Such vandalism is a state felony in Texas, carrying "a penalty of up to two years in state jail and a $10,000 fine if convicted".[26][27]
Folklore of local Tonkawa, Apache and Comanche tribes ascribe magical and spiritual powers to the rock (hence the name Enchanted Rock). The Tonkawa, who inhabited the area in the 16th century, believed that ghost fires flickered at the top of the dome. In particular, they heard unexplained creaking and groaning, which geologists attribute to night-time contraction of the rock after being heated by the sun during the day. The first European to visit the area was probably Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca in 1536. To elude Anglo settlers in the area, the natives would hide on the top two tiers of the rock, where they could not be seen from the ground below. The name "Enchanted Rock" derives from Spanish and Anglo-Texan interpretations of such legends and related folklore; the name "Crying Rock" has also been given to the formation.
A plaque formerly embedded in Enchanted Rock near the top but now displayed in a kiosk below reads:[28]
From its summit in the fall of 1841, Captain John C. Hays, while surrounded by Comanche Indians who cut him off from his ranging company, repulsed the whole band and inflicted upon them such heavy losses that they fled.
Haunted by a Native American princess who threw herself off the rock after witnessing the slaughter of her people[29]
Alleged sacrifices at the rock by both Comanche and Tonkawa tribes[29]
Believed to be a lost silver, gold or iron mine[29]
Footprint indentations on the rock of a Native American chief who sacrificed his daughter, condemned to walk Enchanted Rock forever[29]
Woman's screams at night are of a white woman who took refuge on Enchanted Rock after escaping a kidnapping by Native Americans[29]
Spanish soldier Don Jesús Navarro's Enchanted Rock rescue of native maiden Rosa, daughter of Chief Tehuan, after her kidnap by Comanches intent on sacrificing her on the rock[29]
^ abcUniversity of Texas at Austin, Bureau of Economic Geology, Barnes, V.E., Hartmann, Barbara and Scranton, D.F., 1992, Geologic map of Texas: University of Texas at Austin, Bureau of Economic Geology, scale 1:500000. [1]
^Walker, Nicholas, Middle Proterozoic geologic evolution of Llano uplift, Texas: Evidence from U-Pb zircon geochronometry, Geological Society of America Bulletin 1992;104;494–504
Dobie, J Frank; Estill, Julia (1995). "The Enchanted Rock in Llano County". Legends of Texas: Volume II: Pirates' Gold and Other Tales. Pelican Publishing. pp. 78–82. ISBN978-1-56554-073-6.
Allred, Lance (2009). Enchanted Rock: A Natural and Human History. University of Texas Press. ISBN978-0-292-71963-7.
Moore, Stephen L (2007). "Enchanted Rock and Bird's Fort". Savage Frontier: 1840–1841: Rangers, Riflemen, and Indian Wars in Texas. University of North Texas Press. ISBN978-1-57441-228-4.
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