Shell Employees Recreation Area/Shellwood Park On FM 518

[Mikeytex]

Does anybody (besides me) have any recollection of Shellwood? It was on the corner of 518 and 528 in Friendswood, and was bascially a park for Shell employees. They always had their company picnics there. It was very wooded and had a pool, tennis and basketball courts, picnic tables, etc.... I always knew where it was, but my Mom's friend told me there was a subdivision where it once was (I never knew that it was bounded by 528). The "lake" is still there, and is located right off of the creek (Clear Creek perhaps?). I was wondering if anybody could share some memories of it.

[gnu]

Does anybody (besides me) have any recollection of Shellwood? It was on the corner of 518 and 528 in Friendswood, and was bascially a park for Shell employees. They always had their company picnics there. It was very wooded and had a pool, tennis and basketball courts, picnic tables, etc.... I always knew where it was, but my Mom's friend told me there was a subdivision where it once was (I never knew that it was bounded by 528). The "lake" is still there, and is located right off of the creek (Clear Creek perhaps?). I was wondering if anybody could share some memories of it.

s.e.r.a.

i thought there was a golf course too?

there is a retirement community and a gated subdivision there now...the name escapes me.

sorry i never went there, so i can't really tell any memories..

[westguy76]

I believe for a while this was a campround for kids in the early mid-ninties. I worked at the YMCA for a while in pearland and I see to recall a campground in that area we would take the kids to.

[isuredid]

I spent a lot of time there as a kid. It was quite a hike from our house in East End to get there, or at least it seemed so back then, but it was a pleasant drive. We would go up Telephone Road to 518 and cut over from there. Once you got past Hobby it was all very rural. I think the official name for the place was SERA which stood for Shell Employees Recreation Area, but we called it Shellwood too. The employee picnics were always catered by Lennox Bar-b-que (yum). I learned to swim in that pool. We would fish in that lake, but never caught anything but small perch. I was really more fascinated by the creek or bayou which had lots of turtles, snakes and alligator gars in it.

Edited March 5, 2008 by isuredid

[plumber2]

Camp Mannison was at the corner of FM 518 & FM 528 also.

[brerrabbit]

I never knew that that facility started as a Shell Employees Recreation Area but it would make sense. A lot of the big energy companies in Houston had something like it. I started my first job with Tenneco in 1982 and was introduced to Tennwood which was in Hockley and had 27 holes of golf, a swimming pool, tennis courts, fishing lakes, row boats, volleyball and horseshoes. I t was a great place. Exxon had Baywood Country Club which was right next door to their large gas treatment plant off of Red Bluff. As far as I know its still there. It is at the corner of Red Bluff and Genoa Red Bluff in Pasadena. Texaco had their Golf Course club in Channelview off Sheldon Road. The Jersey Meadows golf course started life as Cameron Iron Works Employee club and was later sold. Cameron then put in a recreational facility for their employees in front of their facility out on 290. Then there was/is the most classic. Diamond Shamrock Corporation built a nine hole golf course on Tidal Basin Road in the middle of all the refineries in Pasadena. Diamonf Shamrock has since sold the facility but as of several years ago the little nine hole course was still there. I always thought how ironic it was that a refinery/chemical worker would want to on his days off return to the noisy and unhealthy environment of the plants to play around of golf.

Edited March 5, 2008 by brerrabbit

[Mikeytex]

I spent a lot of time there as a kid. It was quite a hike from our house in East End to get there, or at least it seemed so back then, but it was a pleasant drive. We would go up Telephone Road to 518 and cut over from there. Once you got past Hobby it was all very rural. I think the official name for the place was SERA which, I think stood for Shell Employees Recreation Area, but we called it Shellwood too. The employee picnics were always catered by Lennox Bar-b-que (yum). I learned to swim in that pool. We would fish in that lake, but never caught anything but small perch. I was really more fascinated by the creek or bayou which had lots of turtles, snakes and alligator gars in it.

I swam in the pool every time we went there. My burr haircut always attracted the horseflies right to my head. My Dad and Uncle and I would go fishing there as well. I Never caught anything, but it was fun. I always had a great time at the picnics. We lived in Gulf Meadows (Telehone & Fuqua) so we were a little closer, but it still seemed like a long way.

[isuredid]

I swam in the pool every time we went there. My burr haircut always attracted the horseflies right to my head. My Dad and Uncle and I would go fishing there as well. I Never caught anything, but it was fun. I always had a great time at the picnics. We lived in Gulf Meadows (Telehone & Fuqua) so we were a little closer, but it still seemed like a long way.

You just reminded me that the place was full of bugs. There were only a few buildings, one for the pool and another bathroom down by the lake, that were made of cinderblock. I remember lots of daddy-long-legs spiders and those big red ants and, like you said, the horseflies

Edited March 5, 2008 by isuredid

[Cannie]

Oh my goodness!! Yes!! My father worked for Shell and took our family to Shellwood when I was very young. I remember the swimming pool and the picnics. They had games and races at the picnics. I have many fond memories of Shellwood.

[mike krouse]

Is this forum still open. . . .it IS quite old?

[dmil]

Regarding the old Humble Golf Club south of Pasadena. It was located at Redbluff Road and Genoa-Redbluff. It was later named Baywood. It is now closed.

[Kathy C.]

My dad worked for Shell Chemical and helped construct the Shellwood clubhouse.  I spent many hours swimming in the pool.

[driveinfan]

If I remember right, didn't Hughes Tool have their own park area for their employees? Just can't remember where it was at.

[dmil]

The Hughes Club was on Sheldon Road and was bordered on the east side by the San Jacinto River. It had a nice pool. I learned to water ski on the river when I was 14. Had to confront large wakes from sand barge tows. We got there by driving north from I-10.

[driveinfan]

Would then the Hughes Club been off of Sheldon Road and Lyyondell at the end where it runs into the river?

[Brucietex]

I remember it well... Swimming, fishing, a big enclosed Pavilion (air conditioned, when it was open), and several pretty well equipped playgrounds. I remember catching little perch in the lake and spinning around so much on a playground whirligig (?) we would almost get sick (and so dizzy we couldn't stand up for several minutes). There were some swing sets (made from oilfield pipe, of course) so big & high they were SCARY (is; FUN)! FUM TIMES... FINE MEMORIES. THANKS MIKEYTEX!

[jjjohn]

Yes,my Dad worked for Shell and he would take us over there every once in a while to fish.The lake had snapping turtles and that would be what we caught mostly.

I was little,like first grade.We moved away and then returned when I was in 6th grade.We would go and swim at the pool.I would learn to high dive there,since the pool had a high diving board. My parents would play tennis with their friends,and the picnics were always fun,with everyone sampling food that others had brought,like a smorgasbord of sharing. Shellwood was a neat place,and I do have several happy memories of the several times we went.

[phawkins77]

My mom would load us up in the station wagon often, during the summer and we spent all day at Shellwod. That was always a great time. I loved going there.  We drove the lifeguards crazy.. They always screamed at us to stay off the rope. The Holloways would meet up with the Kuntz and Kindla families and have a great time.