Magee County Park Comes Back to Life

Rebuilt after Hurricane Harvey, the RV campground at I. B. Magee County Park in Port Aransas has full hookups and new, extra-long parking pads. You’ll need to bring your own shade. Most other amenities in the beachside park are free.

Story and photos by Gerald McLeod

 

At the north end of Mustang Island, I. B. Magee County Park provides some of the best access to the Gulf of Mexico that Port Aransas has to offer.

The park received a devastating blow from Hurricane Harvey in 2017, says Scott Cross, director of Nueces County Coastal Parks. Then came the double whammy of Hurricane Hanna in 2020.

“Hanna actually did us a favor,” Scott says. “It filled in the giant lake that was created by Harvey next to the jetty.”

Despite setbacks, Scott and his team worked hard on rebuilding and improving the park.

Today, the RV park is open and better than ever. Separated from the beach by dunes, all 64 RV slips come with full hookups and new, 90-foot-long parking pads with adjoining patios.

Nueces County also rebuilt the wooden cabanas along the beach, which are available for free on a first-come-first-serve basis. The county contracted with a local business to rent out beach chairs and umbrellas, and to host food trucks in the park.

 

You can rent beach chairs and umbrellas from the park.

 

The popular Horace Caldwell Pier welcomes fishermen and sightseers at the southern end of the park. Once featuring only a small store, now the 1,240-foot, 24-hour lighted pier hosts a concessionaire. This summer, the county will also open a covered observation deck next to the concession stand that will offer expansive views of the Gulf.

 

Most other park amenities, such as the wooden cabanas, are free.

 

Scott says that the cost of construction materials following the pandemic is delaying work on a new boardwalk behind the RV park that will lead to birding blinds. This walkway in the dunes will also provide access to World War II gun bunkers that once protected the ship channel.

Access to the county park between the jetty and Caldwell Pier (Beach Street) is free. Meanwhile, fees at the RV campground are discounted while work continues on the new bathhouse, which Scott hopes to complete by next summer.

Texas