BLUE ELBOW RV PARK

Welcome to The Best

Little RV Park in Texas

Blue Elbow RV Park welcomes you to your new Texas home. We have 10 RV sites with most lengths over 55 ft. long to accommodate your trailer or RV. We have both 30 & 50 amp available. Our park location, just off Hwy 1442, with easy access to I-10, puts us within a nice family neighborhood, but just minutes from our guests’ work locations, shopping and restaurants. Our full hook ups will making living here so easy you’ll agree that we are The Best Little RV Park in Texas.

BLUE ELBOW SWAMP

The swamp gets its name from a sharp bend of the Sabine River. The river can be as deep as 60 ft. but in areas where the banks spread out it provides wet lands to a multitude of wildlife. The Texas Department of Transportation purchased this area in 1997 to mitigate the loss of wetlands that occurred during various highway construction and roadway improvement projects in East Texas. Texas DOT transferred the tract of more than 3,300 acres to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. Today this forest area is threatened by invasive exotic plants like the Chinese tallow tree and salvinia minima. Even though it is on the edge of an industrial city this forested wetland remains a magical place for visitors to see wildlife.

W H STARK HOUSE

The W.H. Stark House was home to William Henry and Miriam Lutcher Stark, who spent a lifetime collecting rare and unique decorative objects. He and his wife Frances began a philanthropic dynasty that continues to benefit the Orange community today. When W.H. and Miriam Stark died in 1936, Lutcher Stark, their son, closed the house. It was vacant until 1970 when restoration began. Restoring it to the 1894 era continued for ten years, and the house was opened as a house museum for public tours on February 10, 1981. The house is classified in the Queen Anne architectural style, which is characterized by long sloping roofs, second floor balconies, Jacobean chimneys, wide verandas, and octagonal or round towers. The 14,000 sq. ft. home today is furnished similar to how it was in the 1920s It has fifteen rooms and three stories of original family furniture, carpets, silver, antique porcelains, and American Brilliant Period cut glass. The ceiling in the Music Room is oil painted on a canvas by artist E. Theo Behr and features an allegorical scene with cherubs. The house also has many unique objects, including a one-of-a-kind sterling silver Gorham Manufacturing Company tea service in the Louis XVI style, a rare copy of the Napoleon death mask, and decorative silver and china. The W.H. Stark House is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and is designated a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark by the Texas Historical Commission. https://whstarkhouse.org/

ORANGEFIELD CORMIER

MUSEUM

A gift to the people of Orangefield, the Cormer museum is the lifetime work of oilman Paul Cormier. He wanted to fashion a town as he remembered from his youth. As different buildings around his area were being dismantled, he collected what he could and built his own town under a large tin roof. His town contains contains places like a jail, a bank, a saloon, a boarding house, a post office, a dentist office, a school, a general store, and a soda fountain. This small town would represent not only old Orangefield, but also many other small country towns all across the south. https://www.facebook.com/OrangefieldCormi erMuseum/

STARK MUSEUM OF ART

The Stark Museum of Art in Orange, Texas, houses one of our nation's most significant collections of American Western art. This collection shows visitors the artistic interpretation of the western region over two centuries. It spans art from the 19th century to the 20th century. Among the many artists represented are John James Audubon, Albert Bierstadt, Frederic Remington, Charles Marion Russell, and Georgia O'Keeffe. The Stark Museum of Art also presents special exhibitions from time to time to explore themes in greater depth and with new approaches. The Decorative Arts collection features natural and historical themes in glass and porcelain. Some of the highlights of this collection are the only complete set of The United States in Crystal from Steuben Glass and the entire series of porcelain birds by Dorothy Doughty. Tribes of the Great Plains, Southwest, Eastern Woodlands, and Northwest Coast are represented in the American Indian collection. It includes examples of Plains clothing, body ornaments, beadwork, baskets, pottery, kachina carvings, and Navajo rugs and blankets. The Rare Books and Manuscripts collection adds to the Museum’s holdings in Western American art and in natural history subjects. Letters and manuscript journals by artists such as John James Audubon, Paul Kane, and Charles Marion Russell are on display. The collection also holds first-edition publications on natural history like Audubon’s personal copy of The Birds of America. https://starkmuseum.org/

SHANGRI LA BOTANICAL

GARDENS

Shangri La Botanical Gardens encompasses 252 acres in the heart of Orange, Texas. Shangri La Botanical Gardens and Nature Center is a program started by the Nelda C. and H.J. Lutcher Stark Foundation. This is a private foundation whose mission is to continue and improve the area originally developed by H.J. Lutcher Stark 60 years ago. The goal is to enrich the quality of life in Southeast Texas and encourage and assist education. The main area of Botanical Gardens contain more than 300 plant species in five rooms as well as four sculpture rooms. Next to the Botanical Gardens is a bird blind which allows visitors to watch nesting birds in Shangri La’s heronry. The Nature Center has a hands-on exhibit called the Nature Discovery Center, a laboratory, and three outdoor classrooms located in the cypress swamp. The Orientation Center includes an Exhibit Hall, Discovery Theater, Children’s Garden, Exhibition Greenhouses, Cafe, and Garden Store. Shangri La Botanical Gardens and Nature Center is the first project in Texas and the 50th project in the world to earn the U.S. Green Building Council’s Platinum certification for LEED-NC, which verifies the design and construction. Shangri La reached the highest green building and performance measures. The combination of gardens and nature at Shangri La is a serene oasis for retreat and renewal, as well as the opportunity to explore, discover and learn. https://shangrilagardens.org/