Copper Breaks State Park in Hardeman County preserves nearly 1,900 acres of rugged badlands shaped from mudstone laid down 200 to 250 million years ago, when the area was an inland seabed. Erosion carved the plains into breaks and ravines, and copper-bearing layers gave the park its name, though 19th-century mining attempts failed. Once part of Comanche and Kiowa land, the property was later owned by the Gosage family, who opened it to local recreation before Texas acquired it in the 1970s and opened the park between 1972 and 1974. Today it is valued for trails, lakes, wildlife, longhorns, and exceptionally dark night skies.