Hippie Hollow Park

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hippie Hollow Park (technically known as MacGregor County Park and usually simply called Hippie Hollow) is a county park in central Texas located on the shore of Lake Travis in northwest Austin. It is the only clothing-optional public park in the State of Texas. Though the land is owned by the Lower Colorado River Authority, it is leased to Travis County, whose Parks Department administers the park.

Hippie Hollow got its name due to its traditional use as a nude swimming spot beginning in the early 1960s. This usage continues to this day, though that status has been unsuccessfully challenged in the courts. The clothing-optional status is protected by the placement of appropriate signage at the park entrance, which duly warns visitors of possibility of encountering nude swimmers. Since the late 1990s, the park has been closed to those under 18 years of age due to Travis County Attorney Ken Oden's concern about a child's art drawing contest at Hippie Hollow. However, there has never been a charge of child molestation at Hippie Hollow in over thirty years of operation.

The administrative bureaucratic ruling was challenged in court by the Central Texas Nudists headed by Bob and Christine Morton (Mr. Morton is also Executive Director of the Naturist Action Committee, affiliated with The Naturist Society), but the court denied the Morton's claim of a Constitutional right to raise their children as nudists and to use this public park in such a manner. Central Texas was settled largely by German and Czech immigrants in the middle-1800s, and nude sunbathing is a part of this culture. Hippie Hollow remains clothing optional, and like many nude beaches has a more or less straight side and a gay side, although culturally there is a great deal of interaction. Austin's gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community sponsors Splash Day at the start and at the end of summer at the Park, drawing visitors from all over Texas and the United States.

Sometimes erroneously labeled as a nude beach, the park actually sits on a somewhat steep slope above the lakes with limestone steps that can be quite rugged in some spots. (Some people even joke that "Yeah, it's a beach, all right; it's just that the grains of sand are three feet on a side.") While some observers might find that feature to be somewhat incompatible with the lack of clothing, park users have adapted quite well, preferring it to the sandy beach and salty waters that are characteristic of most nude beaches.

The park has an area of 109 acres (41 hectares) and receives approximately 350,000 visitors annually.