Roman Nose Resort Park
The park covers more than five hundred acres and includes two lakes – fifty-five acre Lake Watonga and eight acre Lake Boecher. Other ammenties include an eighteen hole golf course, multiple swimming pools, tennis and volleyball courts, trails for hiking and biking, nature trails, minature golf, horseback riding, hayrides, canoeing, season trout fishing, paddleboats, tent and recreational vehicle camping, and a marvelous lodge with a restaurant on-site. A general store also operates at Roman Nose to meet camper’s needs.
Campers can have their choice of more than ninety campsites located in seven different campground areas. Tipi rentals are also available. So are cottages – ten are available for guest stays – and the lodge offers forty seven rooms. Fairway Cottage houses up to 12 guests and has satellite television in every room along with many other perks. Reservations are required – the park is popular and return visitors often book months in advance.
One of the park’s most well-known natural attractions is the Spring of Everlasting Waters. Fed by an underground river that pumps 600 gallons of water per minute, the spring flows clear, cold waters.
Roman Nose Resort is one of the seven original Oklahoma State Parks built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930’s. The park opened for visitors in 1937 and the site has an ancient history as the traditional winter camp for the Cheyenne tribe. Roman Nose is named for the last warrior chief of the Cheyenne people, Henry Roman Nose. Roman Nose was born during a turbulent, violent era on the Western frontier and was one of many Cheyenne who were removed to other locations in 1875. During his captivity, he spent time at Fort Augustine in Florida and learned English. After his people returned to their native area in 1881, Roman Nose soon grew disillusioned by life among the white settlers and removed his family to the rugged canyon that now bears his name. He lived there until his death in 1917. The park was originally scheduled to be named Big Springs State Park but an Oklahoma doctor suggested that the new park be christened for the man who made his home. The name also suggests the Native American heritage of the region so when the park opened, it opened as Roman Nose Resort State Park.
Today, it ranks high among Oklahoma’s many state parks as a popular site for visitors and has preserved the natural beauty of the ancient mesas and rugged canyon for posterity.
Nearby attractions for visitors spending a night or more at the park include the Watonga Cheese Factory in nearby Watonga, the Chisholm Trail Musuem, and Alabaster Caverns State Park.
