The East Texas Arboretum in Athens uses flowers and landscaped gardens as a gateway into the rugged beauty of the hardwood forest along Walnut Creek. The manicured paths lead across a wooden bridge to a hiking trail beneath the canopy of the unspoiled woods.
“We did very little to the area of the trail system,” says Bob McDonald, a board member of the East Texas Arboretum and Botanical Society, which maintains the park on the northwest side of town. The woods have changed very little in the last 150 years, he says.
The society began building the park in 1993, after purchasing the former truck farm. Before the worn-out fields were converted to flower gardens and playgrounds, debris had to be removed after more than a century of subsistence stewardship.
“There used to be truck farming all around Athens; now it’s mostly ranching,” says McDonald, who grew up in the area before moving away to follow a career as an engineer. He returned from the Houston area after he retired. Peas, watermelons, tomatoes, and other vegetables were the main crops. “We even had a black-eyed pea canning plant here,” he says.
The change in land use has brought the deer back, but the quail have disappeared, he says. Hundreds of other kinds of birds and butterflies make the woods their home or resting spot on their migratory journeys. It is not unusual to hear a woodpecker hammering on a distant tree or to see a half-dozen different kinds of butterflies among the flowers along the paths.
With help from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and the Texas Forest Service, the botanical garden has managed to keep growing over the years. They have added a pavilion that is often used for weddings and formal occasions. A historic home was moved to the park to house a museum. The society is raising funds to complete a playground for handicapped children in the center of what was once the farmer’s field.
Almost all of the work at the arboretum has been done by volunteers, including building a suspension bridge over the creek at the back of the property. It is the sort of bridge that is typically used for pipelines because it is unobtrusive on the environment. “It is the only footbridge like it in Texas,” says McDonald, who drew the original concept for the bridge.
The 115-foot-long bridge separates the two hiking trails through the woods. “The two areas look very different,” McDonald says. The back trails go through a stand of dogwood trees. “It’s beautiful in the spring,” he says, “and in the fall the sweet gum and maple trees add a splash of color to the forest.”
The two areas are separated by a natural bog that is home to pitcher plants and other native species that can be viewed from wooden platforms. This winter the Forest Service will conduct a prescribed burn of the vegetation to reduce the woody plants in the low-lying areas.
Not only is the arboretum a tree and plant museum, but this summer it is also serving as an art gallery. Stone cutters from Zimbabwe have placed dozens of sculptures around the gardens through Oct. 30. “This is probably the biggest international event ever to come to Athens,” says Theresa Glasgow, executive director of the botanical society.
The “Mystery in Stone” art exhibit shows off the work of eight artists from the former British colony in southern Africa. The carved figures are both smooth and graceful as well as rough and rugged. A perfect fit in these surroundings. Most of the sculptures are of African themes that translate well into the international language of love, family, and nature.
Besides presenting their artwork, the artists conduct one-day and weeklong classes at the arboretum. The next set of sculpturing classes begins on Sept. 25.
The East Texas Arboretum is open daily during the spring and summer months from 7am to 8pm and in the fall and winter months from 7am to 6pm. Admission is $2 per person; children under 12 are free. The park is at 1601 Patterson Rd. off of U.S. 175 north of the intersection with TX 31. For information, call 903/675-5630 or visit their Web site at www.eastexasarboretum.org.
744th in a series. Day Trips, Vol. 2, a book of Day Trips 101-200, is available for $8.95, plus $3.05 for shipping, handling, and tax. Mail to: Day Trips, PO Box 33284, South Austin, TX 78704.
This article appears in September 16 • 2005.
