Sit a spell, overlooking Japhet Creek at the simply peaceful and naturally charming little lookout at Japhet Creek Park in the East End.
An unassuming little corner of the emerging Japhet Creek Park offers a peaceful, soothing, and socially distanced place to chill in Houston’s East End.
Stretching deep in to the Fifth Ward, Japhet Creek is a small, peaceful tributary creek that offshoots from Buffalo Bayou a couple of miles east of Downtown. The creek is lined by a dense, lush brush and some uncommon (for Houston) topography.
When you arrive at the simple park today, marked by an iron Japhet Creek sign along Clinton Drive, you can pull into the gravel lot, and duck beneath the trees to find a small wooden bench.
The park itself is currently very small and basic, and clearly serves as an impromptu parking lot for visitors, given the obvious entrance and exit on a gravel path through the middle of the property managed by Buffalo Bayou Partnership (BBP).
The main feature of the little park is its access to a peaceful natural overlook, uncommon so close to the heart of Houston, as well as its hint at what’s to come in H-Town’s future.
The Future of Japhet Creek
The little park, as well and the entire creek are part of the Buffalo Bayou Partnership (BBP) plan to refresh and develop the east stretch of Buffalo Bayou, running from Downtown to the Houston Shipping Channel.
BBP is comprised of the people responsible for the amazing transformation of the formerly neglected bayou, from Downtown through River Oaks, into one of the city’s most important outdoor destinations.
BBP plans to restore Japhet Creek, along with the entire east bayou, and enhance it with new pedestrian and bike trails from the Fifth Ward and Finnigan Park, culminating in community gardens, an outdoor classroom, and parking where the creek meets the bayou.
Trails are planned that lead along the creek and cross at a new pedestrian bridge over the bayou, connecting it to other new destinations and attractions along the end of the bayou.
Click here for full details about the Buffalo Bayou East master plan.
Encounter Meeting Point
In April 2018, Buffalo Bayou Partnership held a special one-day event that showcased six separate locations along the eastern stretch of Buffalo Bayou.
Although the activities are long past, several decorative and information stations remain to this day. They were created by the University of Houston Graphic Design Program and highlight the bayou’s relation to the East End and Fifth Ward communities.
Japhet Creek Park in the East End
- Location: 4600 Clinton, Houston, TX 77020
- Hours: Dawn to dusk daily
- Parking: Free street parking is available in the surrounding area and (on most days) in the gravel-dense part of the small park itself.
- More information: Click here for full details about the Buffalo Bayou East master plan.
