Unique Texas (and Close By) Christmas Traditions (Part 2 - Dec 3, 2023)
by Scott Sosebee
We continue this week with two more “Only in Texas” Holiday traditions
The Austin Trail of Lights
Every year, folks in Austin, the surrounding areas, and even visitors that come from all directions on the compass can’t wait to see the impressive Austin Trail of Lights, a two-million light display that attracts more than 400,000 annual visitors to the illuminated display that takes weeks to construct. This year’s event, the 59th Annual, will run from December 8-23.
Like the last week’s offerings in Lubbock and San Angelo, the Austin celebration did not begin in the manner of what it has evolved to be. The origin of the annual event that takes place in Austin’s iconic and beautiful Zilker Park was the simple lighting of a traditional Yule Log in 1965. That year, it was called “Yule Fest” and took place in the center of the park. Revelers gathered to sing carols and have celebratory hot chocolate or other soft drinks as a large log, usually an oak log was set on fire. Each year, for the next decade or so, the city and some sponsors added lights and displays along the walkway that led to the location of the lighting of the traditional log.
The pathway lights and other illuminated displays began to get more elaborate each year, becoming more a focus than the log so, in 1995, the city renamed the event the “Trail of Lights.” In that year, the city added an elaborate “Tunnel of Lights” that patrons walked through to get to the center of the park, and it became one of Austin’s most cherished and looked forward to holiday events. However, the City of Austin experienced some severe budget crunches brought on by the 2008 recession and the drop in city tax revenues with the bust in Austin’s real estate market. That led to a cancellation of the event in 2010, and then, with another cancellation in 2011, word that the city no longer would fund the cost and construction of the Trail of Lights.
Texans don’t take setbacks well, and Austinites became determined to resurrect the Trail of Lights. A group of local businesses and individuals formed the Trail of Lights Foundation with the intention of finding sponsors and other forms of funding that would not only allow the Trail of Lights to resume but to expand and become grander than it had ever been. Their campaign gained momentum, and in 2012, the Trail of Lights resumed and has once again become an annual event. Unlike so many trails that began as a walking trail, Austin’s path through illuminated lights has remained just that, except for modifications due to COVID in 2020 and 2021, when it did transform into a drive-through event. Perhaps most impressively, the entire construction and layout of the Trail of Lights is done by volunteers.
Presently, the Trail of Lights features ninety lit trees and almost eighty displays and walk-through tunnels. It takes one thousand volunteers more than 15,000 man-hours to complete the Trail, and after full illumination for the length of its run, the electric bill for the Trail is in excess of $40,000—and that was at 2021 prices. It is likely much more today. It’s worth a trip to the Capital City to see.
Highland Parks’ “Big Pecan Tree”
One of the most enduring Christmas traditions, in Texas or anywhere, is the decoration and light illumination of homes and outdoor yards. When I was young, one of my favorite things about Christmas time was driving around to “look at the lights.” All five of us would pile into the family car and drive the streets of Abilene—and later San Angelo—to see who had decorated their house, and we would often “rate” which ones were our favorites. There were always neighborhoods that “did it up big,” where not only houses were adorned with lights but also the trees in the yards and bushes along the sidewalks. Such a tradition is behind one of the longest of these customs in one of Texas’ most iconic neighborhoods, an old pecan tree in Highland Park, within the city limits of Dallas.
When Dallas was not really “Dallas” in 1843, Dr. John Cole arrived in Dallas County from Virginia. Dr. Cole was the county’s first medical physician, and he acquired 410 acres as a headright from the Republic of Texas. He then bought additional acres around his original plot, which included all the area that would eventually become Highland Park and most of adjacent University Park. Dr. Cole’s son, Joseph, took over the duties of farming the Cole homestead, and, as the story goes, not long after returning from the Civil War, he was plowing, and went right over a small pecan tree. The tree took a beating from the plow but was savable, so Joseph Cole, as the tale relates, decided that since he had witnessed so much death while he was in the war, he was not going to let this tough little pecan tree perish. So, he staked it upright, lovingly cared for it by hand-watering and protecting it from all elements until his little pecan sapling had grown into a beautiful, mature tree. Joseph Cole sold almost 300 acres of his family’s land to a developer in 1888, but in the contract, he added a stipulation that the new owners and all who came into possession of the title would protect the tree he had lovingly saved.
The land changed hands a number of times through the next decades and finally came into the hands of Hugh Prather, Sr., who would lay out the plat for what would become Highland Park. Prather, along with his son, Hugh Jr., and son-in-law, Edgar Flippin, would take great effort to save the tree, including designing a parkway that protected the tree and placed it prominently at the entrance of the town. The efforts were so great, that the tree became known as the” Million Dollar Monarch.”
Hugh, Jr. and Flippin formed Flippin-Prather Real Estate to develop Highland Park, and they decided, in 1927, to string lights all across the “Million Dollar Monarch” to highlight the season and denote the entrance to the little city, whose residents had also begun to place outdoor Christmas decorations. It became a tradition, and the tree has been brightly lit every Christmas season, save for the dark years of 1941-1945 when, in honor of World War II, it remained unlit. Trees live a long time, but they do have a lifespan. Worried that the “Monarch” might perish without an heir, in 1951, a sapling from the original tree was planted next to the old tree. The descendent of the original tree continues to carry on the tradition at the corner of Armstrong Parkway and Preston Road today. The new one is known as the Landmark Pecan Tree.
Next week, we’ll travel to Fredericksburg for one of the most iconic Christmas traditions in the State.
The East Texas Historical Association provides this column as a public service. Scott Sosebee is a Professor of History at Stephen F. Austin State University and the Executive Director of the Association. He can be contacted at sosebeem@sfasu.edu; www.easttexashistorical.org.