Chickasaw National Recreation Area

History

Forced from the Southeast, the Choctaw and Chickasaw discovered springs in their new nation they considered healing. Worried developers would privatize them like Hot Springs, the Chickasaw sold 640 acres to the U.S. in 1902, creating the Sulphur Springs Reservation. In 2024, the Sulphur tornado struck the park, causing severe damage from Lake of the Arbuckles through the Travertine District.

Platt National Park

It opened to the public on April 29, 1904, and was redesignated Platt National Park on June 29, 1906, a year after Platt's death. It was the seventh and smallest national park in the United States and the only one in Oklahoma until 1976. In 1914, Platt had more visitors than Yellowstone or Yosemite. The Civilian Conservation Corps developed infrastructure in the 1930s, and this environment was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2011.

Congress abolished Platt National Park in 1976, merging it into the larger Chickasaw National Recreation Area, which included Lake of the Arbuckles. In 1983, Sulphur traded 67 acres to the recreation area for land above the State Highway 7 bridge. In 2011, a U.S. quarter featured the Chickasaw's Lincoln Bridge, a limestone bridge built in 1909 for Abraham Lincoln's 100th birthday.

Travertine district

The Travertine district, which includes the former Platt National Park, is a narrow, three-mile-long area less than a mile wide. A single loop road leads visitors past parking lots, campsites, picnic areas, the Travertine Nature Center, swimming spots, and springs. The Civilian Conservation Corps built a bison pasture here during the 1930s.

Travertine Creek begins at Antelope and Buffalo Springs, flowing through the district and merging with Rock Creek. These springs release 5 million gallons of clear, cool water each day. Miles of hiking and biking trails meander through the dense forest along the creek bottomland.