The Outdoors in Gladewater, Texas

Lake Gladewater, built on Glade Creek in 1954 as a water supply and recreation lake, is the town's close-to-home outdoor spot. The lake offers fishing — bass, crappie, and catfish — along with boating, picnicking, and a quiet place to enjoy the water without leaving the city. It's a pleasant, low-key amenity for residents and a nice spot for an easy afternoon outdoors.

With a city park setting, Lake Gladewater is the kind of small reservoir that gives a town its everyday outdoor character — a place to fish after work or take the family on a weekend.

Gladewater's real outdoor advantage is its proximity to the bigger lakes of Northeast Texas. Lake O' the Pines, northwest toward Jefferson, is a large Corps of Engineers reservoir popular for bass fishing, boating, and camping, with numerous parks around its shoreline. Lake Cherokee, to the south near Longview and Kilgore, offers more fishing and boating.

A bit farther out, the famous trophy-bass waters of Lake Fork lie to the west, and the lakes around Tyler are to the southwest. As part of the Longview area, Gladewater residents have easy access to one of the better concentrations of fishing lakes in East Texas — all within a short drive.

In town, Gladewater's parks add playgrounds, sports fields, and green space for everyday recreation, and the surrounding countryside is classic East Texas — pine and hardwood forest, creek bottoms, and rolling hills. It's good country for hunting, scenic drives, and getting into the woods.

Gladewater's central spot in the Longview metro makes the wider region's outdoor options easy to reach. Longview's parks and trail system are 12 miles east, Tyler's rose gardens and Tyler State Park are about 25 miles southwest, and the lakes and forests of Northeast Texas spread out in every direction. For a small antiquing town, Gladewater is surprisingly well placed for the outdoors.