Parks

Sandybrook Pocket Park

Dedication

1984

Size

2.92 acres

Additional amenities

Bench
Drinking fountain
Electrical box
Grill
Playground area
Shelter
Table
Trash receptacle

Fun facts

The purchase of land for Sandybrook Park was approved by City Council on January 13, 1981. The 2.92-acre park site is in the Sandybrook Addition, a subdivision developed by Fox & Jacobs, Inc. Almost as soon as it was dedicated, the park became very popular with area residents. Early improvements included picnic facilities and a playground. More substantial improvements, including a shelter and playground equipment, were added circa 1989. Additional improvements were implemented in 1999.

Recreation

The park has a short 0.10 mile ADA cement trail connecting to the playground.

Geology

The park is evenly split between Grayson Marl and Main Street Limestone Formations and the Woodbine Formation. Grayson Marl consists of greenish-gray thinly interbedded limestone with nodular bits of shale, sand and fossiliferous material. The Main Street Limestone is hard, thin interbedded gray and white layers.

The Woodbine Formation, which was formed during the Late Cretaceous 95 million years ago in non-marine brackish water, and marine beds of sand, clay, sandstone, and shale measuring up to 600 feet thick. It is composed largely of Paleozoic sediment eroded from the Ouachita Mountains in southern Oklahoma and Arkansas and then deposited in ancient near-shore environments. It contains fossils such as ammonites, gastropods, pelecypods, brachiopods, and foraminifers. Most interestingly, one of the best examples of marine megafauna fossils in Texas is found in the Woodbine Formation in Arlington at the Arlington Archosaur Site. Theropod dinosaurs, duck-billed dinosaurs, croc-relatives, turtles, amphibians, snakes, mammals, bony fish, sharks, rays, invertebrates, and plant fossils have been found there. The catalogued fossils now reside at the Perot Museum of Natural History in Dallas.

Soils

The soils are a mix between Rader and Crosstell series. The Rader series is very deep, well drained, slowly permeable soils that formed in clayey and loamy alluvium derived from sandstone and shale. They occur on level to gently sloping stream terraces and terrace remnants on inland dissected coastal plains. The Crosstell series consists of deep, moderately well drained, very slowly permeable soils that formed in clayey residuum derived from claystone. It lies within the Eastern Cross Timbers ecosystem and has post oaks growing in soils that post oaks don't typically grow in (sandy iron-rich soils).

Ecology

The park is a remnant of what once was a long, narrow wooded ecosystem known as the Eastern Cross Timbers. Its historic range ran from eastern Cooke County on the Red River south to western Hill County and includes portions of Denton, Tarrant, Johnson, and Hill counties. Dominant Eastern Cross Timbers species include post oak, blackjack oak, Mexican plum, possumhaw, eastern red cedar, greenbriar, and various shade-loving bunchgrasses and forbs. Early travelers through the area called the Eastern Cross Timbers the Cast Iron Forest, perhaps because it was difficult to penetrate this narrow band of woods due to greenbriar and dense understory. Interesting species of note found recently at the park include: eastern redbud, coralberry, cedar sedge, purpletop, purple lovegrass, monarch and many other species of butterflies and moths, and a nice diversity of insects and spiders.

View animal, plant and insect species observed at Sandybrook Pocket Park and make some of your own observations through iNaturalist. See link under the "Related information" Section.

Reserve this park on ActiveNet