By:
Submission
Located on the north shore of the 750-acre Coffee Mill Lake, East Coffee Mill Recreation Area was completed in 1968 with additional major construction done by volunteers in the early 1990s. The lake was built in the 1930s and provides many recreation opportunities. ACTIVITIES Boating Camping Fishing
From Honey Grove, Texas, follow FM 100 north 12 miles to FM 409. Turn left and go west 5 miles to camp entrance on the left.
WARNING ⚠️ IF YOU ARE GOING HERE FOR "NIGHT SKY" VIEWING, THIS REC AREA IS NO LONGER CLOSE TO IT'S PREVIOUS RATING!!! We drove over two hours to get here based on the claim that this was one of the darkest locations within four hours of Dallas. IT'S NOT! I could drive 30 minutes southeast of Rockwall on 205 and be in a location with the same amount of light pollution.
It now has a HUGE manufacturing facility just to the east of it, which causes EXTREME light-wash over the park area!
It's a nice place if you have a boat or a camper, or if you don't mind rustic tent camping.
Small campground next to the lake. There is a boat ramp, but no boat dock. There is a fishing dock.
A very nice small campground, recreation area, and boat ramp. There are gendered bathrooms and a hand pump for water. It's also in a low Bortle zone so astrophotography options are good. Particularly for DSO.
Nice campground with about a dozen sites right near the lake. Bortle class 3 skies are dark and great for photography (only light pollution is to the south in direction of Dallas). Great hiking trails right from the campground. This might be a "grassland" but the trails and campground are shaded by ample trees.
Nice park with scenic views of the lake. The park is one of the least light polluted parks around DFW, so I expect night skies to be just gorgeous. Will have to come back when its not cloudy. The lake was a bit dirty for swimming I feel. No beach area. Good boat ramp. Restrooms are waterless, and were not in good shape when we went. Basically emergency restroom. The campsites around have running water but no electricity. Camp sites have bbq grill, tables, and fire rings.
July 2020 update. They added a very nice fishing pier!
