Naming Lake Godstone
Connecting Families with Nature, Lake Godstone™ is an Experience, not a Destination and is located about 10 minutes north of Graford, Texas.
In July of 2016 we started construction of Lake Godstone and our 35-Person lodge. The only other building on the property at that time was a two-bedroom Barndominium and roads and trails were non-existent.
The Lake did not have a name when construction and digging commenced until my daughter reminded me that my grandfather was born in Godstone, Surrey, England where a Lake with that name existed.
My grandfather, Stephen Noel Attrell came to Canada at age six and served in the Canadian Army during World War One; protecting his home country and waging the battle against the German Army at Vimy Ridge and Passchendaele. After surviving those brutal field battles he was hospitalized with shrapnel wounds and the Spanish Flu and one of his legs was amputated. He returned to Alberta in Canada where he married and raised his family until his death in 1972.
After digging through a 10 foot wide limestone rock formation at about a 15-20 foot depth while building Lake Godstone we continued digging through the nearly pure clay that lied beneath. Below that at a 40 foot depth was blue shale clay; a perfect lake bottom and coating for our very large 250 foot by 150 dam top. With tremendous clay to spare from the dig we built up the dam slope to a more gradual degree of slope on both the front and the rear of the dam.
We also built three long 12 foot wide level pea gravel bottom ledges about ten feet deep (when lake is full) on the sides of the lake for spawning purposes and left much of the lake shore forest intact to provide cover for fish.
The spillway was originally a natural undisturbed rock and dirt area left open on the NE end to the side of the top of the dam. An emergency spillway with 48 inch trickle tubes was created on the SE end of the side of the dam and it was later lowered to become the primary spillway that is working to its full potential.
A 24 inch trickle tube was then buried at the NE end to the side of the top of the dam to facilitate normal ground water drainage during rainfall. That tube carried water for about 200 feet and was then left open over a rocky creek-bed that carried groundwater to a new Crappie Pond that was built in 2020. A dam was built to captured the water and form the Crappie Pond which is about 12 feet deep and 1-2 acres with half of it located up in the forest creating cover for fish and other wildlife. Two 48 inch trickle tubes were built into that dam to facilitate runoff into the Dry Branch Creek and then off of the property under Halsell Ranch Road.
To maintain the 12 foot depth of our Beaver Pond we installed a pump system operating full time to pump water from Lake Godstone up to the Beaver Pond and then return to the lake via the trickle tube under the spillway.
Our Crappie Pond is below Lake Godstone and stays full (even during drought) with replenishment via underground springs from Lake Godstone.
During severe drought in the summer of 2022 and 2023 Lake godstone was about 4 feet low. Our docks are all hinged and were able to accommodate the lake level and remain functional. The resultant depth at the lodge dock was about ten feet instead of the fourteen foot normal depth. The deepest part of the lake was 37 feet instead of 41 foot normal depth.
Our feed and watering stations on our 188 acre forested and wooded ranch provide ample opportunities for our guests to see deer, raccoon, possum, skunk, coyote, bobcat, snakes, squirrels and a large variety of insects including honey bees at our small apiary. The flowers on our property in the spring are beautiful and must be experienced.
The lake and our two fishing ponds provide a home to large mouth bass, crappie, channel catfish, bluegill, frogs, turtles and crawfish and a large variety of birds including herons, cardinals, robins, scissor-tailed flycatcher, painted bunting and red-winged blackbirds.
To enjoy our wildlife and natural vegetation, we also provide a 35 person lodge, a three bedroom guest home, cabins and campgrounds to guests who seek an experience rather than a destination. Our campus has seven partially covered docks with watercraft moorings, swim ladders and fish feeders to facilitate fishing for plentiful large mouth bass, bluegill, crappie and channel catfish. Canoes, kayaks, pedal boats and a row boat are available for rent as well as an eight-person pontoon boat with bimini and trolling motor.
Our lodge is booked all or none and has an upper night sky covered viewing deck, a large porch with two restaurant booths and seating along the lake front where you can fish right off the porch. The large fire pit has seating for 40 people and the classroom has a large big screen Roku TV for training, movies or sports. Our Wi-Fi- is campus-wide over all 188 acres and is included in rental of any of our facilities.
Tranquil Trail is a four-mile hiking and mountain biking trail that takes our guests around the forested Lake, ponds, and upper wooded meadows where there are four wildlife viewing stations with elevated seating over wildlife feeders and watering holes.
Our sports fields feature a lit basketball court, baseball and soccer practice field and a sand volleyball court. Each of our lodge, guest home, cabins and campgrounds have a large fire pit with water, power, picnic tables, and they are connected with all-weather gravel roads with parking at each facility. With plentiful watershed from the surrounding hills into our retainage ponds, Lake Godstone™ is pretty full year-round. Please visit our reviews and book your next family adventure today.”
Call 940-275-0908 to book your retreat now.
