To many who visited this part of Texas a good many years ago, Lover's Retreat is a name and place to be remembered.  It is located three miles west of Palo Pinto on Eagle Creek, and for years, it was a favorite picnic spot of the county.

Many legends concerning its name have been told but the name originated in the following way:  Miss Mollie Vaughan, who later married Milton Fryar, visited this charming spot one Sunday afternoon with a young lawyer from Weatherford, whose name was Jim Shirley.  Making the trip from Palo Pinto in a buggy, they found many other buggies about and many other young couples strolling about under the shade of the trees.  "This place should have a name." Shirley said, "so many people come here."  Miss Vaughan thought for a moment and said, "So many sweethearts come to this beautiful place, let's call it "Lover's Retreat.""

A number of legends have sprung up though the years and one speaks of a man named Lovers taking refuge in a cave above the spring there and waiting for the Indians to leave before coming out; another is of a beautiful Indian maiden, daughter of a mighty chieftain, and her lover, who took refuge in the cave, hiding from her father who wanted her to marry the chief of another tribe.  After the pursuers had returned to their wigwams, it is said, the couple came out and seeing the beauty of the spot called it Lovers Retreat.

The popularity of Lover's Retreat has waned with the coming of the automobile and swift transportation to other places, but to many who were there in their young days, it will remain a spot to be remembered.