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Barton Springs Pool is a man-made recreational swimming pool located in Zilker Park in Austin, Texas. The pool is located in the channel of Barton Creek and filled by water from Main Barton Spring, the fourth largest spring in Texas. Since the pool's water temperature is nearly constant, self-maintained in a narrow range from about 68.0 °F in the winter to about 71.6 °F in the summer, it is a popular venue for year-round swimming.

In 1837, soon after incorporation of the city of Austin, William ("Uncle Billy") Barton, the springs' namesake, settled the area. He, and subsequent owners of the property, recognized its value as a tourist attraction, and promoted it vigorously, thus leading to the swimming hole's lasting popularity.
The last private owner of the property, Andrew Jackson Zilker deeded it to Austin in 1918. During the 1920s, the city undertook a construction project to create a larger swimming area by damming the springs and building sidewalks. The bathhouse was constructed in the 1940s.

Philosophers' Rock is a 1994 larger-than-lifesize bronze sculpture of three renowned Austin writers that sits under a pecan grove at the entrance to Barton Springs Pool. J. Frank Dobie, Roy Bedichek, and Walter Prescott Webb used to meet at Barton Springs every afternoon and hold forth in what has been characterized as "Austin’s first literary salon." The men met on a rock at the edge of the pool that Bedichek dubbed "Philosophers’ Rock." The statue, by renowned sculptor Glenna Goodacre (who created the Women in Vietnam memorial in Washington D.C. and the image of Sacajawea on the new dollar coin) is an unforgettable depiction of three good friends engaged in an informal but intense discussion.

I shot these images on 9/11/2012. An unknown visitor added the American flag that morning reminding us, "Never forget!"