Palmetto State Park, State park in Gonzales County, Texas.

Palmetto State Park is a state park in Gonzales County, Texas, with ecosystems shaped by dwarf palmetto growing under hardwood trees along the San Marcos River. The park provides tent sites, RV spots, and an air-conditioned cabin alongside facilities for kayaking, fishing, and hiking on multiple trails.

Palmetto State Park opened in 1936 on 109 hectares assembled between 1934 and 1936 from private owners and the City of Gonzales. Civilian Conservation Corps Companies 873 and 886 built the park between 1934 and 1937, leaving Park Road 11, a low-water crossing on the San Marcos River, a stone water tower and storage building, a refectory, barbecue pits, rock retention dams and two sets of entrance portals.

The park is named for the dwarf palmetto (Sabal minor), a fan palm whose segmented fronds grow low along the water and bogs. Visitors can walk the Palmetto Trail, Lake Trail and River Trail, and look for white-tailed deer, nine-banded armadillo, fox squirrel and raccoon. More than 240 bird species have been recorded, among them the pileated woodpecker and prothonotary warbler.

Access is via a turnoff from U.S. Highway 183 between Gonzales and Luling. Trails include the Lake Trail, Palmetto Trail and River Trail, and canoes can be put in at the Luling City Park 20 km upstream for river trips into the park. The Oxbow Lake is used for angling and pedal boats.

The wooden water tower on the Palmetto Trail was raised by the Civilian Conservation Corps to keep the park's swampy areas wet enough. Oxbow Lake began as a floodwater remnant, is now cut off from the San Marcos River and fed by springs, and is used for swimming, angling, kayaking and paddleboarding.