Dealey Plaza is a city park in the West End Historic District of downtown Dallas. The park was designed and built in the late 1930s with the finishing touch being the planting of the trees outlining the park. Six Live Oaks, Quercus fusiformis were aligned along two fountains paralleling Houston Street. Live Oaks and Cedar …Read More
The Bur Oak grows beside the historic Big Spring on the edge of the Great Trinity Forest in southern Dallas County. The spring has been an important source of clean water for humans for thousands of years. For more than 200 years this tree has stood near the spring offering its shade and shelter. The …Read More
Comanche cultures and traditions are passed down from generation to generation through oral instruction and visual aids. Comanche storytellers would tell stories of Earth’s creation, and of how the wild animals or buffalo were released on earth. They told legends of mythological characters, often animals with human traits or character flaws, whose story supported the …Read More
Eastern Red Cedars were used by the Comanche for a number of important reasons, but this is the only tree of this species recognized as a Comanche Marker Tree. Small for a tree of its age, it proved it was old enough to qualify as a marker tree when tree cookies from its wounds provided …Read More
While it was surprising to many historians to find Comanche Marker Trees as far east as the Trinity River, the Comanche were not surprised. The “Lords of the Plains” had not forgotten the importance of “Pih-heet Pah-e-hoona”, the Comanche name for the Trinity River; the term translates as “Three Rivers.” Gateway Park and the Trinity …Read More
Bird’s Fort Trail is an early Texas trail that was used by settlers in the mid-eighteen hundreds. The Peter’s Colony map below (courtesy of the Irving Heritage Society) shows this historic site as it was known by early travelers, including American Indians. The Comanche Indians and other tribes heavily occupied this land prior to settlement. …Read More
The California Crossing Comanche Marker Tree is a pecan, which is a native species in the Dallas area. Pecan is the state tree of Texas and it is an important food source for wildlife as well as humans. The California Crossing tree is bent at a severe angle and a significant portion of the trunk …Read More
About 100 feet from the Champion Incense Cedar tree in Garland Memorial Park along South Garland Avenue once stood the majestic State Champion Shumard Red Oak. This oak was recognized in 1999 by the Texas Forest Service as the largest of its species in the area including all of Dallas, Tarrant, and eight adjoining counties. …Read More
This towering California Incense Cedar is native to the Pacific Northwest. The tree is not a true Cedar but belongs to the Cypress family and is also referred to as a False Cedar. It was named State Champion in 1998 by the Texas Forest Service, and there are none larger currently registered in Texas. It …Read More
This majestic cottonwood, standing more than 70 feet tall with a circumference of more than 12 feet, stood at the center of the Texas Discovery Gardens at Fair Park for more than 70 years. It was admired for its towering beauty for decades, providing bountiful shade for hundreds of thousands of visitors to the State …Read More