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farm on a large scale for himself, he rented the land to
several families to farm. The Hoffards were one of those
families who lived at the Penn Farm. Andy married Dee
Etta Hoffard in 1927.
Like so many family agricultural businesses of that
time, the Penn’s farm went through some financial
setbacks because of the Great Depression and again
during World War II.
Andy, at 65 years old, was reducing the number of
his cattle and cultivating less land. He died in 1964, and
soon after Dee Etta began selling some of the land that
comprised Penn Farm. She continued to live on the farm
until 1970. Five years later the land and the buildings
were sold to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Texas
Parks and Wildlife Department received the land in 1990
and the park opened in 1991.
For Kids, Check Out the Ranger Programs
The park offers guided hikes, history and nature programs,
and outdoor skills workshops. All are especially interesting
to young visitors.
• Check their Events page for upcoming programs.
• Call the park to arrange a program for your group.
• Learn more about the park on
their Nature and History pages.
• Borrow a Junior Ranger Explorer Pack for your kids!
• Check out the Cedar Hill State Park Activity Guide.
• Or the Interpretive Guide to Cedar Hill State Park
and Penn Farm Agricultural Center.
The trip was a lot of fun, even with the freakishly cold
weather that went away the minute we turned into our
driveway at the end of our trip. We plan to return in
warmer weather to experience the warm-weather aspects
of the park. But we are also planning another Thanksgiving
Weekend excursion at another state park for this
month. Stay tuned.
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Beautiful sunset