Mrs. Dewey Moore of Hughes Springs, while entertaining the wife of a potential car buyer (as her husband Dewey talked cars), discovered that the wife, Peggy Amerson, a botanist, had photographed wildflowers in the Hughes Springs, Avinger, and Linden area. Mrs. Amerson had enough slides for a program, so Mrs. Moore, who was secretary of the Cass County Historical Society at the time, asked her to give a program at a subsequent meeting.
Previously, Mrs. Charles R. Davis, as Sesame Club Civic Chairman, had asked the Texas Highway Department for help in beautifying the Hughes Springs Spring Park. While at the District 19 office in Atlanta, Raymond Hudson, Maintenance Engineer, showed Mrs. Davis a letter from botanists Peggy Amerson and Geraldine Watson, reporting the discovery of trillium (White Trillium, T. texanum) in bloom on Highway 49 near Turkey Creek in the spring of 1970. The trillium was then protected so it could seed.
When Mrs. Amerson agreed to show her slides for the Historical Society, numerous individuals in the area were invited. Besides the trillium, there were slides of wild orchids and other rare and endangered species that she had photographed in the peat bogs and swampy places in a three-town area. In her comments, Mrs. Amerson made the statement that she wished a wildflower trail would be established.
Tony Bridge (son of Mrs. Howard Bridge of Avinger), Tourism Chairman of the East Texas Chamber of Commerce, advised on how to proceed in chartering a wildflower trail in Texas. A non-profit charter was needed, and Rick Harrison, attorney and Hughes Springs Chamber of Commerce president, was asked to do the legal work--which he did gratis, and the Hughes Springs Chamber of Commerce paid the $25.00 charter fee.
On May 18, 1970, Mrs. Carl Owens of Avinger offered her home for the next luncheon meeting, and the name “Wildflower Trails of Texas” was chosen. It would be identified as the wildflower triangle, and officers were elected—one from each town. Mrs. Davis of Hughes Springs became chairman, Judge Brown of Linden became vice president, and Mrs. Mike McKaughan of Avinger became secretary-treasurer. Numerous groups were formed, and the goal was to combine, if possible, all organizations and government agencies working on conservation, coordinating the many phases into one central effort, with the festival dates emphasizing preservation through an anti-litter effort, in hopes of multiplying results.
On June 30th, the charter for the first Wildflower Trails of Texas was accepted. The purpose was “to promote the preservation of native plants for the pleasure of area residents and for tourists in the 3-town triangle in Cass County.” The first festival was scheduled to be April 28th through May 7th, 1971, and Congressman Wright Patman pledged his assistance. He was the featured speaker at the first event in the Hughes Springs Spring Park, his native town. The spot where the trillium was first found was near Patman Switch—birthplace of Mr. Patman.
After the first festival, the East Texas Chamber of Commerce asked the group to appear on a panel at their Tourism Conference in Kilgore. Had the ETCC not recognized the effort, likely there might not have been a second Trail, because the group was physically exhausted!
Over 50 years later, the Wildflower Trails of Texas continues….and we can thank Mrs. Dewey Moore for being the catalyst for this ongoing tradition.
