Texas historic trees, famous trees of Texas. (original) (raw)
Trees in Texas have historically had a tough time of it. Take East Texas for example. Texans traditionally think of trees as fence posts in-the-rough. Who needs trees when you've got a big hat for shade? The best way to survive as a tree in Texas is to arrange to have some historic event occur under (or hanging from) your branches.
The Sam Houston Oak, Gonzales by Mike Cox In the vicinity of the tree on March 14, 1836, Sam Houston and several hundred Texas citizen-soldiers spent one of the worst nights of their lives
The Lost Forest by Bob Bowman "..... 8,500 acres of magnificent pines ..... were destroyed and the red-cockaded woodpecker, an innocent caught in the struggle between environmentalists and foresters, lost its home....."
In Quercus Veritas by Mike Cox Not many people know it, but Ward County does indeed have the U.S.�s largest concentration of a species called the Havard oak.... �This Lilliputian Jungle,� naturalist Roy Bedichek wrote of the Ward County Havard oak stand in his classic book Adventures with a Texas Naturalist, �is as much a natural curiosity as the Painted Desert or the wonder areas of Yellowstone.� While Bedichek�s observation is true enough, the Painted Desert and Yellowstone are a bit better known.
Reforesting the Texas National Forests by Bob Bowman President Theodore Roosevelt established four Texas National Forests in 1936. By 1937, the federal government had acquired more than 613,000 acres from private landowners at an average price of $4.62 an acre...
Ferdinand Lindheimer by Clay Coppedge About 50 species and sub-species of plants are named for Ferdinand Lindheimer, a man born to the good life in Germany who made his name � and the name of all those plants � on the Texas frontier.
Fruit Tree Ramsey by Clay Coppedge When Frank T. Ramsey was 16 years old, he quit going to school and became a partner in his father�s nursery business in Burnet County. His father, Alexander M. Ramsey, wrote down a list of fruit tree varieties that he had for sale and put his son and business partner on a horse. Frank traveled all over Texas, taking orders for trees and collecting native flora along the way...
Weather Folklore - Psychic Persimmons by Dana Goolsby Folklore reveals that superstitions about cutting persimmon trees may help cure warts, cancer and even predict weather, even Texas weather.
Panhandle �Backlash� Saves Trees by Brewster Hudspeth or Love in the Time of Dendrophobia According to a recent article in the Amarillo Globe, it has been four years since �state transportation officials� proposed cutting down both trees in the Texas Panhandle. Okay, that�s a slight exaggeration. There are a few more than two. TxDOT managed to count 1,185 trees � that were �encroaching� on Hemphill County highways and proposed to cut every one of them down...
Chinkapins: Country Kids Love'em by N. Ray Maxie Does anyone know what a chinkapin is? I�m sure a lot of people don�t know. The burley little nut actually resembles a small chestnut, and rightly so, it is of the chestnut family...
Bodark trees tough as nails by Delbert Trew Few Great Plains trees have the mystique and history of the "bois d'arc" tree. Some call it Osage Orange, hedge, hedge apple, horse apple, mock orange or even Thorny Maclura Pomifera - its scientific name. Cowboys just said bodark...
Peaches by Mike Cox Most peach trees seldom make it past their first decade of existence. That�s what made the peach tree outside the old stone structure in Burnet at the site of Fort Croghan so unusual...
Goodrich Jones: The best friend Texas trees ever had by Clay Coppedge Some people might be tempted to refer to W. Goodrich Jones as the original tree hugger. While there is no record of Jones in an arbor embrace, he was no doubt a pioneering conservation and a profound and lasting impact on forestry in this country, especially Texas. A state forest in East Texas is named in his honor...
Love, appreciation for trees go full circle by Delbert Trew Recently, I realized that in my 72 years of existence I have traveled a full circle on the subject of trees. The area south of Perryton where I was raised had no trees. I was not alone as before my time settlers had to burn buffalo chips because there was little firewood...
Fall of the Largest Tree by Bob Bowman "The passing of Arthur Temple -- the man some newspapers called the last of the East Texas timber barons -- ended a link with a history reaching back more than a century."
The Fayette County Town Square Oak and Its Guardian Cleve's concern for the tree is reminiscent of Comanche County's Fleming Oak. Who knows? Perhaps in time there will be a historical marker in Fayetteville as there is in Comanche, honoring someone who took the time to call much-needed attention to a town's oldest resident.
I've been looking for information on the largest Magnolia tree in the state of Texas and ran across your article that spoke of a tree that had fallen victim to a heartless individual that had harmed the tree in a way that proved fatal. Your article said that the tree was near the Polk, Liberty, and Hardin county divide. We live in this area, approximately halfway between the towns of Segno and Votaw. On our property we have two Magnolias, both having bases that come close to 9', ...yes nine feet. I would welcome you to come and verify this. My mood dips everytime I see a large tree of any kind on the back of a logging truck. I understand that these people are making a living, but there has to be balance. Many groups such as Greenpeace, Sierra Club, etc., talk about the South American rainforest, but we need to look no further than our own back yard to see "Our Vanishing Wilderness". - A Lover of Natural Texas, Dan Pope, February 28, 2004
I've been stuck on your website for hours. ... I live in Mansfield,Texas, actually about six miles north of old downtown Mansfield. I've lived here since 1963 in an area that years ago was called the Bisbee Courts. There are Cottonwood trees that are over 100 feet tall and have to be at least a couple hundred years old, by far the largest trees in the whole Fort Worth, Dallas area. ..... The Bisbee courts was actually a stage coach stop in the old days with rooms to rent. This place has several water wells and an underground spring that has ran for years. Rumor has it that Bonnie an Clyde even stayed here. ..... - David, May 20, 2002
Here's something for future consideration in your tree section. There's a big live oak in Huffman (community west of Lake Houston, north of Crosby) that has some interesting history. The tree is privately owned, but sits right on the highway (FM 2100) just a few miles north of FM 1960. The elderly owner has an attractive home and keeps a wonderful yard, especially his mature azaleas that are a wonderful backdrop to the stately tree during the spring. There is some apocraphal legend surrounding the tree. Being that it is actually on one of the trails probably used from time to time by Jean Lafitte, legend has it that he buried some gold under its branches. The tree has been dated at better than 325 years old. Huffman is a community of some historical significance, but is hard to define as a town. There is an old town of Huffman, but it is really just a collection of subdivisions build first for weekend homes, and later as suburbs. Hence, the place kind of struggles for an identity. The big oak is the lasting, living symbol of Huffman. The weight of ice during a storm in 1996 or 1997 caused its huge trunk to split, but the owner had it repaired with some sort of plaster-like substance. The Crosby-Huffman Chamber of Commerce 281-328-6984 has some information on this, as does the Lake Houston Sun newspaper 281-452-0530. - J. Barnes, Humble, December 29, 2001
Relevant Link:
Texas Forest Service - Texas Big Tree Registry
