Russ Pitman Park

A garden oasis inside the loop puts you in a grassy knoll just as it was hundreds of years ago. Well kept trails, native plant and wildlife and swings for the kids. Bing a camera and some bug spray and have fun.

We visited Russ Pitman Park specifically to attend a class about foraging & identifying edible wild plants. The class was fun and informative.
The park staff was great. It’s a very small park, but they do their best to fill it with interesting things to look at.

Russ Pitman & The Nature Discovery Center are great little gems hidden in the middle of Bellaire (ITL). Situated at the corner of Evergreen and Newcastle, the park is just over 4 acres and includes nice swing sets, jungle gyms and climbing areas for kids, a walking trail complete with labeled trees, flowers & plants, and the Nature Discovery Center building. The park itself is opened daily from 6 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. and the Nature Discovery Center every day except Mondays and major holidays (see website for hours).
Until recently, I had not visited the park in at least five years. The trails were much smaller than I had remembered, and a bit overgrown too. I remember in the past there were many more clearly labeled trees and plants. I learned the park is currently in transition as they intend to plant more native varieties, so that may explain why some labels were missing or incorrect. However, they do need to spend some time weeding and tidying up the garden as it was a bit difficult to tell how much is planned garden and how much was just weeds. Also worth mentioning, is the fact there is poison ivy growing along the trail, but it is clearly marked and you should be fine as long as you stay on the path.
You don’t need to plan an entire day here as the entire trail can be walked in about 15 – 20 minutes, even quicker if you are legitimately walking and not just meandering. However, if you wish to spend a couple of hours, there are several picnic tables under the gazebos and benches throughout the trail where it is nice to sit and watch the world around you. Like with other parks, the tables and benches are first-​come-​first-​served. However, the gazebos may also be rented out for parties with advanced notice and a small rental fee. They also offer activity time for kids and scheduled guided walking tours of the park for those interested in bird-​watching or generally learning more about the park. With free entry into both the park and the NDC, as well as free parking, Russ Pitman is worth your time.

Fun little place to walk around and explore. I want to come back and take some family pictures here. They also have an activity/​story time for kids Wednesdays at 4. It didn’t even feel like we were in the middle of Houston while we were walking around the trails — hardly any people around. Great for families.

Henshaw house former home of Frank S. Henshaw Major of Bellaire 1935 – 1937

This is a gem of a park. It’s nice and quiet with a lot of activities for the kids. I think you can rent this out for events such as birthdays.
My son loves to play in the sandbox and with the rabbit near the house. They have a few ’”short trails” to walk around. Also they have lot of different types of vegetation. Watch out for mosquitoes, but that is every area in Houston.

I must thank Danielle S for finding this gem. She basically has addressed all of the pluses about this wonderful park.
It’s a huge park with nice trails and lots of vegetation. The only thing I can add is there is actual poison ivy in this park so please BEWARE. They are clearly marked but just in case you don’t notice just stay on the trails and enjoy the scenery instead of trying to picking stuff up.
There are also 2 playground pieces for the kiddos and 3 tennis courts across the street.

If you don’t know about this park, you’re really missing out.
Russ Pitman Park is an urban oasis smack in the middle of the city of Bellaire (which is smack in the middle of the city of Houston). It’s four acres of heavily wooded grounds, which make it a haven for birds and other critters, such as squirrels, raccoons, opossums and rabbits. Originally a large estate owned by one family, its manor, the beautiful 1920’s-vintage Henshaw House, still stands as the park’s community outreach center, the Hana and Arthur Ginzbarg Nature Discovery Center.
I grew up visiting Russ Pitman Park and the Nature Discovery Center. As both my grandparents were birdwatchers, I learned from an early age to be still and look, really look, at the world around me. This place holds special significance to me, and even today I’ll occasionally go over, sit on a bench under the shade of a mighty tree, and just «be». It makes a fantastic location for formal portraits, as it’s both a beautiful space and extremely convenient for those ITL.
There’s quite a bit of diversity in what you can do and see here. At the corner of Evergreen and Newcastle, there’s a playground for the little ones, which is flanked by picnic tables. Two paths, one on the outside corner of the park, the other cutting straight through, snake through the space and encourage lots of meandering. In spring the paperwhite narcissus bloom on the outer edge of the park and the smell is heavenly.
As you walk down the middle path, it’ll take you past a fountain with a fish pond, a relic from the old Henshaw days. Close to that is an aviary filled with birds who are either being rehabilitated to be released back into the wild, or would not survive on their own due to injury. Behind the Henshaw House there’s an apiary (no, not a cage full of apes – a beehive), a chimney swift house, an herb garden, and bat houses. Scattered throughout the park, the result of a boy scout’s project, are orienteering plaques that you can follow if you have a compass and feel adventurous.
There’s a fantastic birdwatching group which meets here weekly during migration seasons, and if you think that the only avian species that live inside the Loop are pigeons and grackles, think again. The towering oaks and pecans here, as well as low-​lying bushes and brush, offer shelter for lots of migratory birds making a stopover en route to Canada or Mexico, depending on the season. On the side of the Henshaw House near the porte-​cochere is a white board on which birdwatchers can detail the latest sightings of swifts, swallows and finches. Even owls and birds of prey have been spotted within the park.
No dogs are allowed in the park, partially as a way to keep safe all the animals that call Russ Pitman Park home. I encourage anyone inside the loop to take just a few hours on a Saturday afternoon and enjoy the beauty of the outdoors in our proverbial backyard. Russ Pitman Park is truly one of Houston’s hidden gems.