Day Trips & Beyond: Love Lock Bridges in Texas

Learn all about the tradition and where you can take part in it, and where not to.

The Legend

The practice of attaching locks to bridges and other structures began during World War I when a couple in Serbia proclaimed their unbreakable love by attaching a lock to Most Ljubavi (Bridge of Love) in the town of Vrnjacka Banja. It’s a wonder the tradition took hold after he left her for another woman. From there the tradition spread across Europe and then the world. The most famous love lock bridge is Pont des Arts in Paris where the weight of thousands of locks was blamed for the collapse of part of the bridge.

Some people call love locks romantic; others think they’re unsightly vandalism to public property. It all depends on your point of view and where the locks are placed. Not all of these locations have been independently confirmed. But if you’re in the area and have an affection and a padlock you’d like to commemorate, one of these might be the place.

Austin

Open since 1982, the Oasis Restaurant has several traditions that have developed over the years. One custom is its Lover’s Locks to commemorate your visit to the sunset capital of Texas. You can buy padlocks at the gift shop or preorder customized locks.

Balmorhea

One of the more unusual takes on the love lock tradition is at the Calera Chapel outside of Balmorhea. Here, lovers write their names on rocks and place them around the foundation of the wedding chapel in the desert.

El Paso

The scenic overlook in Murchison Rogers Park/Scenic Drive Park offers a clear view of El Paso and Juarez from the top of Scenic Drive. The view of the lights is impressive at night. Couples place locks of love on the stair’s railing leading to the highest point in the park, but park employees occasionally remove the locks.

In Ascarate Park, city employees built a double-heart sculpture next to the pond for lovers to attach their locks. Please don’t throw the lock into the lake; the city considers it littering.

Dallas

Santa Fe Trestle Trail Bridge in East Oak Cliff attracts committed couples with their personalized padlocks. The Santa Fe Trestle Hike and Bike Trail is part of the Great Trinity Forest, and the 1.86-mile trail can be accessed from Riverfront Boulevard or on the west side of the levees at Santa Fe Street. Built in 1879, the restored bridge over the Trinity River offers an expansive view of downtown.

Houston

The bridge over Allen Parkway in Eleanor Tinsley Park has a view of the downtown Houston skyline and a chain-link fence to attach your love lock.

Rosemont Pedestrian Bridge over Buffalo Bayou is much more scenic, but the railing is thick and more difficult to get a love lock attached.

Irving

The bridge at Carolyn Promenade Lake off East Las Colinas Boulevard was made famous when two contestants of the reality dating show Love Is Blind went to the bridge to pledge their love forever and threw the key into the lake.

Lufkin

Without a bridge downtown, the city in the Piney Woods came to the rescue of lovestruck couples by installing an eight-foot Locked With Love Tree in Cotton Square Park at the corner of Cotton Square and West Lufkin Avenue. The metal tree has rings to attach your lock and a heart-shaped box to drop the key in.

Marfa

Love locks cover the fence around Prada Marfa, the sculptural art installation outside of Valentine in West Texas. In the last few years lovers have attaching padlocks to the heavy-iron fence the rancher built to separate his livestock and the tourists. Etched with each couple's names or initials, the locks symbolize the pair’s inseparable devotion. The site is 37 miles northwest of Marfa on U.S. Highway 90.

Paris (Texas)

Being the second-largest Paris in the world, Paris, Texas, has its own version of the love lock bridge. Actually, it has two. The most popular bridge is on the Northeast Texas Trail over U.S. Highway 271 about 1.5 miles east of the South Collegiate Drive trailhead.

The second love lock bridge is on the Trail de Paris, a southern extension of the Northeast Texas Trail (a former railroad corridor that runs 130 miles from Farmersville to New Boston). The Earl Erickson Bridge is 100 feet long with an observation deck on one end and chain-link fencing on the sides to attach your love lock.

San Angelo

The city placed the sculpture Forever Love near the Lone Wolf Bridge over the Concho River. Add your padlock to the heart-shaped metal fencing. It is another cool art project by Art in Uncommon Places. The bridge is near the intersection of Paint Rock Road and East Avenue L.

San Antonio

If you tie the knot at the Courthouse Wedding Chapel, they supply the couple with a padlock to take to the Kallison Love Lock Walk Bridge. You don’t have to get married at the chapel to add your love lock to the fence along the River Walk south of Market Street.

Tyler

On Rose Rudman Trail in Southside Park the railing on the bridge over West Mud Creek has inspired lovers to show their love by attaching a lock and throwing away the key. The bridge is north of Shiloh Road near the mid-section of the trail.

Waco

Don’t be tempted to attach your love lock to the historic Suspension Bridge downtown. If the length of time the lock spends on the bridge is any indication of the duration of the love affair, it won’t last long. City crews regularly patrol the bridge and remove the locks. The same goes with tortillas left in crevices of the bridge or tortilla bags tied to the bridge’s cables. A campus legend says those lucky enough to toss a tortilla that lands on a tall concrete structure next to the bridge will graduate from Baylor in four years.

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Gerald McLeod has been traveling around Texas and beyond for his "Day Trips" column for more than 25 years. Keep up to date with his journeys on his archive page and follow him on Facebook.