Pease Park

Address: 1100 Kingsbury St, Austin, TX 78703
Hours: Open daily, dawn to dusk
Cost: Free

The Hook

Austin’s oldest public park sits in a shaded canyon carved by Shoal Creek — a green corridor that has been a gathering place since before the city existed.

Key Facts

• Established 1876; donated to the city by Governor Elisha Marshall Pease
• Follows Shoal Creek through a limestone canyon in the heart of Austin
• The Barton Creek Greenbelt and Shoal Creek trail system connect here, making it part of a larger urban trail network
• Home to Eeyore’s Birthday Party — an annual counterculture celebration held every April since 1963, one of Austin’s longest-running traditions
• The creek floods regularly; the park is designed to absorb it

Story / History

Governor Pease served Texas twice (1853–57 and briefly in 1870) and donated his personal land along Shoal Creek to the city to be kept as public green space. It was one of the first acts of civic land preservation in Austin’s history. The creek it follows drains the Edwards Plateau and has shaped the neighborhood around it — old Hyde Park lots were platted to work around the creek’s path. In the 1960s, UT students began holding a birthday party for Eeyore (the Winnie-the-Pooh character) in the park as a gentle act of counterculture whimsy. It never stopped.

Insider Tips

• Kingsbury Street entrance puts you right at the main meadow
• The creek is beautiful after rain — check it before a tour if there’s been recent weather
• Eeyore’s Birthday Party (late April) draws thousands; worth timing a tour around it
• Connects to the Shoal Creek Trail — good extension for active tours

Logistics

• Tour stop duration: 20–30 min
• Parking: Street parking on Kingsbury St or nearby neighborhood streets
• Nearby stops: Hyde Park neighborhood (5 min walk north), Barton Springs (15 min drive)

Sources

• Austin Parks Foundation: austinparks.org