Crisp morning air and the subtle transition from green to yellow, orange, and red announce autumn’s arrival in East Texas. While there are many ways you can enjoy the season in Texas’ gorgeous Pineywoods region, Palestine is the perfect place to appreciate fall’s beauty. Beyond exploring Davey Dogwood Park or fishing at a nearby lake, you can take on one of Texas’ most unique long-distance bike rides, experience one-of-a-kind festivals, and more. Plan your perfect fall getaway by checking out these amazing autumn adventures in Palestine.

The Award-Winning Tahwahkaro Distillery

Whether you’re a whiskey enthusiast or you want to savor a true taste of Texas, stop by Tahwahkaro Distillery.

Note: Tahwahkaro Distillery will open its doors in late October, so make sure you’re here to be one of the first to experience this award winner.

A Bike Ride Like No Other

Looking for your next endurance race to train for? Add The Camino 205 (Sept. 25 – 26) to your bike racing bucket list. This multi-distance, two-day race follows 35-, 70-, and 105-mile routes on gravel roads throughout the breathtaking Davy Crockett National Forest. If you want to test your mettle, opt for the 155- or 205-mile options over both days. Finish your ride back in Palestine and hang out for the Camino 205’s finisher’s festival that includes live music, great food, awesome giveaways, and more. No matter how far you pedal, you’re guaranteed an unparalleled adventure that’ll have you coming back for more.

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An Event that Celebrates a Town Nearly as Old as Texas

Any birthday is a big deal. But 175 years? It doesn’t get more noteworthy than that. Celebrate this milestone at Palestine’s Heritage Celebration (Oct. 15 – 17), a festive affair held throughout town. It all starts with the opening ceremonies at Regan Park, where you’ll listen to live music and hear the story of the city’s founding and its history.

Starting Friday evening and into the next day, enjoy historic tours of some of Palestine’s coveted historic destinations with a little bit of flare which included night-time old jailhouse, cemetery and Howard House Museum tours. You can get free access to all of the tours offered all weekend by stopping by Palestine Visitor Center on Friday or Saturday.

Meanwhile, experience living history demonstrations like blacksmithing, spinning, and Dutch oven cooking that bring the past to the present before indulging in some sweet homemade ice cream which makes for a delicious treat. Then browse the farmers market before sticking around for cultural dance presentations and a group dance before the main event.

Come back the next day for a community-wide picnic in the park and as well as a historic church tour that You can also follow one of four scenic driving trails to see historic homes and the beauty of Davey Dogwood Park.

There’s much more fun where that came from, so make sure you’re here for a celebration of one of Texas’ oldest cities.

The Hottest Little Festival in Texas

Texas is known for its hot summers, but that’s not the kind of heat you’ll get at Palestine’s Hot Pepper Festival (Oct. 23). Instead of that afternoon sizzle, we’re talking about the kind of spice that’ll have your tastebuds feeling like they’re walking across hot coals. A true celebration of peppery heat, the festival kicks off with a parade starting at the Anderson County Courthouse and continues with a Chili Appreciation Society International-sanctioned cook-off with hot sauce and jalapeno eating contests, the Saucy Queens Lolly Lick-a-thon, and live music all day long. There are even arts and crafts and a special play area for kids. Whether you’re competing in an eating contest or you’re just taking in all the fun, you’ll see first-hand why this is the Hottest Little Festival in Texas.

Boot Stompin’ Texas Country Music

If you’re a country music fan, you’ve got to be here for the Wiggy Thump Festival (Oct. 30). Held at the Anderson County Youth Livestock Pavilion, the concert features some of the top names in Texas country music headlined by Palestine’s own Whiskey Myers. This year’s edition also stars honky-tonk legend Mark Chesnutt and Houston outfit the Chad Cooke Band. The festival is BYOB, so you can bring your own drinks along with cash to purchase tickets and food.

Autumn’s cooler air and its many magnificent colors are reason enough to visit Palestine this fall, but the destination’s one-of-a-kind events make it even more compelling. Discover all this East Texas town has to offer and plan your visit here.

“Downtown Palestine is worth saving as a grand memory in our minds forever. It’s full of great history, color, and great worth,” says Palestine Seventh-grader Madeline Moran.

Madeline was announced as the winner of the 2020 Save Texas History Essay Contest. Sponsored by the Texas General Land Office’s Save Texas History Program, Texas students were asked to answer the question, “What history in your community is worth saving?” Madeline selected historic downtown Palestine as the setting and focus of her essay. She writes that walking in downtown Palestine “makes you feel fuzzy, warm, and special because you are part of such of an astounding history-filled town.”

She details the history of Palestine and describes some of her favorite buildings, such as the Anderson County Courthouse, the Texas Jailhouse, and the Texas Theatre. Her teacher, Mr. Norris White, said he left the essay topics up for the students to decide. When asked why she chose downtown to focus on, Madeline said it’s where she loves to be. Her hope for this essay was to illustrate downtown so that people would want to see it for themselves.
Madeline attends UT Tyler University Academy in Palestine, Texas.

See below for a link to the complete essay:

 

If you find yourself in Palestine, Texas, craving something sweet, this list has got you covered!

 

1. Oxbow Bakery
   

Oxbow Bakery is a sweet spot in the Piney Woods of East Texas, where mile-high meringue and Southern heritage collide for the ultimate dessert. Located in a space built in the 1900’s, the Oxbow has been serving America’s favorite dessert since 2009 in Old Town Palestine. Owned and operated by a mother-son team, Oxbow Bakery has become synonymous with Palestine, driving foodies into Old Town, including Chef Floyd Cardoz, Bravo’s Top Chef Master. Pie lovers converge in the old mule barn turned bakery for a taste of over a dozen delectable flavors. Oxbow Bakery has been featured by Southern Living Magazine, Texas Monthly, Texas Highways Magazine and Taste of the South Magazine.

Thursday- Saturday 10am- 5pm

Contact (903) 723-5100

https://www.facebook.com/oxbowpies

 

2. EilenBerger Bakery

F. H. Eilenberger (1878 – 1959), a German immigrant, worked at bakeries in Galveston and Fort Worth before starting this company in 1898. Originally located on the corner of John and Oak streets, the operation was moved to this site in 1918. Eilenberger also lived here for several years. Although he sold the business to his two sons and his son-in-law in 1949, his baked bread continued to be distributed throughout East Texas until 1968. Today the bakery is noted for fruit and pecan cakes, which are produced from a family recipe and marketed worldwide.

Monday – Friday 7:00am – 3:00pm

Saturday 8:00am – 2:00pm

Contact (903) 729-0881

https://www.facebook.com/EilenbergerBakery

 

3. LuLu & Kakes: Cupcakery and Sweet Shoppe

Family owned and operated in historic downtown Palestine, specializing in fanciful and fun cupcakes and giving back to the local community. Their selection of sweets ranges from cupcakes, macrons, and ice cream to coffee and fruit-flavored drinks. Flavors change daily, so you’ll never know what you might find!

Monday & Saturday 10AM – 5PM

Tuesday – Friday 7:30AM – 5PM

Contact (903) 392-7917

https://www.facebook.com/LuLu.and.Kakes

 

4. Cream & Coffee

Cream & Coffee offers a full line of coffee and espresso drinks, smoothies, chai teas, hot tea’s, hot chocolate’s, creamsicles, and Italian sodas. Stop in at the Well Creek Crossing location for a scoop of gelato or bite to eat. In a hurry? The double drive-thru is designed to get you back on the road quickly.

Drive Thru Hours:

Monday- Friday 6am – 6pm & Saturday 7am – 4pm

Wells Creek Hours:

Monday – Saturday 8am – 8pm

https://www.facebook.com/Cream-Coffee-375752376178758

 

5. Jocelyn’s Donuts

Jocelyn’s Donuts is a family-owned business where sweet and savory collide serving donuts and burgers and burgers made with donuts! House specialties include the Holy Cow Burger and the Good Morning Burger!

Monday- Friday 3am – 3pm

Saturday- Sunday 3pm – 1pm

Contact (903) 723-8999

https://www.facebook.com/Jocelyns-Donuts-755639761207456

PennyLynn Webb | Jul 16, 2019

Gov. Greg Abbott has made the second Saturday in September Quanah Parker Day.

 

Quanah Parker, the son of Cynthia Ann Parker and Comanche Chief Peta Nocona, is an iconic historical figure. He was the last great chief of the Comanche people during the difficult transition from free ranging life to life on the reservation.

 

He was an influential negotiator with government agents, a prosperous cattle-rancher, and a vocal advocate of formal education for Native American children.

 

The bill, signed by Abbott on Jun 10, was sponsored by Justin Holland, a Texas representative from Rockwall.

 

“This will mean that it’ll be..promoted with schoolchildren,” said Ron Parker, Quanah’s great grandson. “Children will know about that day.”

 

One of the reasons for the honor, is Quanah has been identified as a founder of the official state bison herd of Texas at Caprock Canyons State Park. This free-ranging bison herd are the very last bison of the great Texas southern plains bisons herd.

 

Quanah is also a Texas historical figure with strong ties to Houston and Anderson counties and many families who live here today.

 

It started with John Parker’s son, Daniel. In 1832, Daniel Parker, a staunch theologian, received permission to settle in Texas. He organized a group of people as part of the Predestination Baptist Church. They left Illinois in July of 1833 in an ox-drawn wagon.

 

Daniel and the majority of his followers originally settled in Grimes County but later moved to near present-day Elkhart, where a replica of their Pilgrim Baptist Church stands. Other group members went farther west, near the Navasota River and present-day Groesbeck.

 

Elder John Parker and three of his sons, Silas, James and Benjamin, cleared land in December of 1833 for the construction of “Parker’s Fort.”

 

John Parker negotiated treaties with local Indians, who were subject to the Comanche.    Historians believe Parker thought the treaties applied to all Indians and would protect his family from any attack.

 

Comanche customs, however, regarding treaties made by subject tribes didn’t limit the Comanche as a raiding nation. When Comanche raiding season began, Fort Parker was one of many settlements subject to attack.

 

It was on May 19, 1836, when the Comanche Indians attacked the fort. The Comanche killed five settlers and captured another five, as 21 surviving settlers fled to what is now Palestine.

 

Cynthia Ann Parker remains the most famous of those Comanche captives. The Native Americans caught John Parker and his men in the open. They managed to fight a rear guard action for some of the escaping women and children, but soon they too retreated into the fort. The Indians attacked the fort and quickly overpowered and outnumbered defenders.

 

They killed John Parker, but took two of his grandchildren and three others alive.

 

Historical accounts state that Cynthia watched as the attackers raped other women, and the men tortured and killed the other residents. John Parker was the last to die. He was brutally tortured, scalped and then killed.

 

The five captives, including -year-old, blonde-hair, blue-eyed Cynthia Ann, the daughter of Silas M. Parker and her brother John Richard Parker whom the Indians led away into Comanche territory.

 

A rescue party formed to save the captives. During their pursuit of the Indians, a teenage girl escaped.. The others were eventually released in exchange for ransom. However, Cynthia remained with the Comanche for nearly 25 years.

 

John Richard Parker was ransomed back to his family after six years, but was unable to adapt to white society and returned to the Comanche.

 

Cynthia Ann received the name Nadua that translates as “Someone Found.” She was adopted in the Nocona band of the Comanche. Although she was beaten and abused at first, Cynthia Ann adopted to Indian ways and later married Chief Peta Nocona, with whom she had three children: Quanah, Peanuts (sometimes referred to as Pecos) and Topsana, which translates to “Prairie Flower.”

 

As a tribute to Nocona’s great affection to Cynthia, he never took another wife, although it was traditional for chieftains to do so.

 

In December of 1860, Cynthia Ann, 34, and Topsana were captured in the battle of Pease River. They were reunited with Cynthia’s white family. However, Cynthia did not want to stay and is said to have mourned, even running away once, wishing to return to her Comanche family and her sons. Topsana died of an illness in 1863. Heartbroken, Cynthia, stopped eating and died of influenza in Anderson County in 1870.

 

Several years after the Pease River battle and after the death of Nocona, Quanah was taken under the wing of Chief Wild Horse who taught him the ways of the Comanche warrior. History states that Quanah received considerable honor as a warrior and joined the Quahadi Comanche band, which grew to become the largest and most notorious of the Comanche. Quanah became the leader among the Quahadi Comanche and led the tribe successfully for many years.

 

After the Comanche tribes on the “Staked Plains” were defeated, Quanah led his group to surrender to the authorities after the battle of the Great Plains. Their food sources were depleted and they were under constant pressure from the army. They were forced to live on a reservation in Oklahoma territory.

 

The Quahadis were the very last tribe on the Staked Plains. Quanah was made the chief of all the Comanche tribes on the reservation, and proved to be a forceful and resourceful leader. Through investments, he became very wealthy.

 

After moving to the reservation, Quanah reached out to his white relatives from his mother’s family. Many of them rejected him at first. However, after much correspondence, they began to connect. He even visited the Anderson and Houston County area, staying with relatives for a few weeks to study the English and Western culture and eventually adopted the surname Parker.

 

Quanah forged a close relationship with several Texas cattlemen, like Charles Goodnight and the Burnett family. He worked with these men to build his own herds. He also worked to see that the tribe received “grass” payments for grazing rights on Comanche, Kiowa and Apache lands.

 

Quanah passed away on Feb. 23, 1911 at the age of 59 at his home, Star House, on the Comanche reservation. Before his death, he arranged for his mother and sister to be reburied in a plot next to his own at Post Oak Cemetery near Cache, Oklahoma. In 1957, due to an expansion of a missile base, the three were moved to the Fort Sill Military Cemetery in Oklahoma.

 

Old Fort Parker was reconstructed to pay tribute to the Parker family and the other pioneer families who journeyed to Texas from Crawford County, Illinois in 1833.

 

For directions to the Old pilgrim church, click here.

 

See the original article by the Palestine Herald Press at:  https://www.palestineherald.com/news/historical-figure-with-local-ties-gets-annual-holiday/article_de27b862-a832-11e9-ae03-efd438739365.html#tncms-source=article-nav-prev

My name is Pflitta and I come from Cornwall, England. It’s a beautiful place, but I had a wandering spirit, so adventuring I went! It was on one of those adventures that I came upon a human girl with pink hair like my own. I found myself to be most intrigued by this human, so I snuck into her backpack when she wasn’t paying attention. This led me to being in a fantastic hollow metal creature that engulfed many humans and flew without having to use feathery wings. How delightful! We ended up in a place called Texas; a place far from my home back across the ocean. Even though I was so far from home, I was eager to study this human further. However, I became distracted by the sights, sounds, and smells around me. I magicked myself and flew east. Things soon quieted down. There were trees, hills, and flowers all around me. How enchanted I was and still am here at the Davey Dogwood Park I discovered in Palestine, Texas. Here I have become an avid moon bather, wing washer (even fairies have jobs), and use my sweet home and gardens as a fairy bed & breakfast. Collecting shiny trinkets and gardening keep me the busiest, but I am very a very happy host to my guests. Breakfast is always cupcakes! Come and stay with me sometime as I rarely travel anymore. Thanks for stopping by! Please feel free to see what I have left un-magicked for you to see.

Glittery Goodbyes!  Pflitta

Welcome to the quaint village of the Loblollies, more commonly known as “Pine Fairies”. The Loblollies migrated from another dimension to the area known as “Palestine” about 460 years ago. With them, they brought the first pine seeds in the cones that they wear as crash helmets. It is a little known fact that this is how the Loblolly Pine trees that grow in this area got their name.

I have been observing this species of faerie for nine years now, and documenting my research. This is what I’ve found: The Loblollies are about 70% friendly and 30% mischievous. They love a good laugh and are often playing practical jokes on one another or slyly tying each others wings together and disappearing behind a hedge. They have a fondness for “borrowing” things that are laying around; especially shiny things, as their interdimensional stargate is powered by shimmer. If you’ve ever found yourself missing an earring, a bracelet or a shiny vase or candlestick, it is certainly a possibility that the Loblollies in charge of accruing fuel for shine power have “borrowed” it for their quantum leap. Of course they have every intention of returning the item, but you know how busy a faerie’s life can be.

There’s a saying that goes “Every time a bell rings a faerie gets their wings.” I have field tested this hypothesis and it is in part true. This particular specie is oviparous, and much like caterpillars, the Loblollie babies are wingless when they hatch. A little jingle from the “birthing bell” and iridescent green wings begin to emerge. Once a Loblollie reaches maturity, these baby wings are shed and the adult faeries remain wingless until (usually) a human nearby jingles a bell.

Although the adult Loblolly diet includes garden vegetables and all things sweet, baby Loblollies are fed a regimen of Dogwood pollen and honey; presumably why they chose to settle here in this area. Every Spring, the village elders enchant the Dogwood trees to blossom for the year’s harvest.

During my years of observation, I have begun to understand the language of the Loblollies. Text, which they usually write with their feet dipped in berry paste, resembles Sumerian cuneiform, but spoken dialect is a melodious composition of whistles, clicks, buzzes, and wurbles not resembling any Earthly language. Incidentally, their words for “human” most commonly resembles our words for “bell-ringing blimp”. The Loblolly village is usually veiled in an invisibility cloud, but they have agreed to temporarily put their township on display for this year’s Dogwood trails event and [fairy] garden walk. The Loblollies went a step further and even included signs in English (with translation help from me). They were surprised and delighted to see other [fairy] gardens popping up around the forest and have made many new friends along the path.

There is still much to learn about these impish little creatures, but as long as the Dogwoods bloom, we can be sure that the Loblollies are still with us.

A sprinkle a day keeps the clouds away!

It had been days of nonstop rain in Dogwood Junction, and you could tell by the mood of the town’s fairy population that something was desperately needed to lift their tiny spirits.

Everyone was grumpy! No one was even saying hello as they flew along the streets in the tiny fairy town. The normal atmosphere of love and cooperation had turned into one of indifference and gloom. Acts of kindness in the forest stopped. No one was delivering food to their elderly next door fairy neighbor or checking on a nearby fairy friend who was ill.

That was until two fairy explorers stumbled across the Davey Dogwood Fairy Dust Mine. Just a sprinkle of fairy dust from the mine caused a transformation! The town was back to its kind and caring spirit, and the fairies were filled with love and concern for their fellow neighbors.

Even on a cloudy, gloomy day, with a sprinkle of the dust, everything changes! The skies seem clear and sunny. Moods brighten. Love is in the air. Fairies lend a helping hand to their neighbors. They even reach out to connect with complete strangers and share a good word or an act of kindness.

Although the mine is hidden deep in the forest, it is said that if you stumble upon it by accident, and get sprinkled with the dust, it will change your whole outlook, too!

A garden installation by WE CARE Palestine

Deep in the beautiful dogwood forest is an enchanted home for the oldest, wisest Dogwood fairies. These silver haired fairies know all the secrets of the forest and love to share their stories (and magic) with the younger fairies that visit. Sharing wisdom and life is the way they leave their mark on all who will listen, so they call their home “Legacy.”
The silver-haired fairies have learned to enjoy the little moments, including sugarplum bingo, swinging beneath branches, wearing the sparkliest clothes and spending time meditating in the sprite chapel.

Those who live here truly understand the source of fairy life: the laughter and smiles of children and the young at heart as well as the splendor of nature. For this reason, they invite all who visit to reach into their magical chest and take home flower seeds and a little fairy dust.

“Fáilte roimh ár nGairdín”

“Welcome to our garden”

(Irish Gaelic, ancient Irish ogham writing)

Down the path of past the dust mine
there is a neighbourhood that is fairy fine!

There is a pool and a ladder too,
Our fairies there await you!

Come and find them.
Look to see.
If you may find
Where they may be!

Sometimes they’ll tease you
And twinkle bright in a flash
Other times, they’ll trick you
To blink & its over in a dash

So look to the left, then look to the right
Everywhere you’ll see, are fairies happy & bright

 

— B & C Fairy Garden