Nacogdoches Texas USA

Nacogdoches (pronounced /ˌnækəˈdoʊtʃɪs/) is a city in Nacogdoches County, Texas, in the United States. The 2000 census recorded the city's population to be 29,914, while in 2007 it was estimated to have reached 32,006. It is the county seat of Nacogdoches County and is situated in East Texas. Nacogdoches is a sister city of Natchitoches, Louisiana.Nacogdoches made international headlines in February 2003, after receiving much of the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster debris.Nacogdoches is located at [show location on an interactive map] 31°36′32″N, 94°39′3″W (31.608855, -94.650862). Its location is approximately 140 miles NNE of Houston, 130 miles SE of Dallas and 90 miles SW of Shreveport.According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 25.3 square miles (65.5 km²), of which, 25.2 square miles (65.3 km²) of it is land and 0.1 square miles (0.2 km²) of it (0.24%) is water. The city center is located just to the north of the fork of two creeks, the LaNana and Banita.Lake Nacogdoches is located ten miles west of the city. A new lake - Naconiche - will soon be available.In 1990 Nacogdoches had a population of 30,872.As of the census of 2000, there were 29,914 people, 11,220 households, and 5,935 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,185.9 people per square mile (457.8/km²). There were 12,329 housing units at an average density of 488.7/sq mi (188.7/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 65.98% White, 25.06% African American, 0.34% Native American, 1.13% Asian, 0.11% Pacific Islander, 5.84% from other races, and 1.55% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 10.82% of the population.There were 11,220 households out of which 25.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 35.7% were married couples living together, 13.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 47.1% were non-families. 33.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.30 and the average family size was 3.04.In the city the population was spread out with 20.2% under the age of 18, 30.9% from 18 to 24, 22.3% from 25 to 44, 15.4% from 45 to 64, and 11.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 24 years. For every 100 females there were 87.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 84.2 males.The median income for a household in the city was $22,700, and the median income for a family was $37,020. Males had a median income of $28,933 versus $22,577 for females. The per capita income for the city was $14,546. About 20.9% of families and 32.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 38.4% of those under age 18 and 13.3% of those age 65 or over. However, traditional measures of poverty can be highly misleading when applied to communities with a large proportion of students, such as Nacogdoches.Nacogdoches is the oldest town in Texas. (Similarly sister city Natchitoches is the oldest town in Louisiana). Evidence of settlement on the same site dates back to 10,000 years ago. It was one of the original European settlements in the region originally populated with Adaeseños from fort Los Adaes Nacogdoches is named for the Caddo family of Indians who once lived in the area. There is a legend that tells of an old Caddo chief who lived near the Sabine River and had twin sons. When the sons grew to manhood and were ready to become leaders of their own tribes, the father sent one brother three days eastward toward the rising sun. The other brother was sent three days toward the setting sun.The twin who settled three days toward the setting sun was Nacogdoches. The other brother, Natchitoches, settled three days to the east in Louisiana. The two brothers remained friendly and the road between the two communities was well traveled. This road became a trade route and the eastern end of El Camino Real.Nacogdoches remained a Caddo Indian settlement until 1716 when Spain established a mission here, Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe de los Nacogdoches. That was the first European activity in the area, but a mission was not a town - it was a church. The "town" of Nacogdoches got started after the Spaniards decided that the French were no longer a threat and that maintaining the mission was too costly. So, in 1772 they ordered all settlers in the area to move to San Antonio. Some were eager to escape the wilderness, but others had to be forced from their homes by soldiers.*****************The Nine Flags of Nacogdoches************The Spanish Flag of Castile and Leon flew over Texas for three hundred years.Spanish involvement in Texas began with Alonzo Alverez de Pineda's mapping of the Texas coast in 1519. Then, in 1542 Luis de Moscoso came to Nacogdoches and East Texas with the remnants of the Hernando de Soto expedition that had begun four years earlier in Florida. Spain's claim to Texas went back to the DeSoto-Moscoso Expedition, which claimed all of southeastern United States as Spanish Florida.Spain's occupation of Texas began in 1690 with the founding of Mission San Francisco de los Tejas on the Neches River. It continued in 1716 with the founding of six missions from the Neches River to Los Adaes in Western Louisiana, and 1721 with the founding of Presidio Nuestra Señora de Pilar de los Adaes----near present day Robeline, Louisiana. Los Adaes was the first capital of the Province of Texas. Texas was under the Spanish flag until Mexico gained its independence from Spain in 1821.Interestingly, the first flag used by the Spanish to claim Texas was not the familiar flag of Castile and Leon; it was a banner that had the Virgin of Guadalupe on one side and the crucified Christ on the other.France's claim to a part of Texas went back to 1682, when Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, explored the Mississippi and claimed all the land in its drainage for France. For some mapmakers and politicians, this included Texas. He named this land Louisiana.La Salle came to Texas in 1685, after he accidentally sailed past his destination at the mouth of the Mississippi. He established Fort St. Louis and a French settlement on Garcitas Creek off Matagorda Bay. The settlement was ill fated from its beginning. LaSalle was murdered by his own men near Navasota in 1687, and the settlers and soldiers who remained at Fort St. Louis were killed or captured by the Indians in 1689. The Spanish found Fort St. Louis and burned it to the ground in 1690.This French intrusion into Spanish territory caused the Spanish to begin the occupation and settlement of East Texas to prevent further French invasions.Spanish Nacogdoches came under the Mexican flag in 1821, when Mexico finally won its independence from Spain.Mexico, in order to prove its ownership of Texas, began settling its eastern parts with the Anglos as early as December 1821. In that year Stephen F. Austin was allowed to bring the first of his Old Three Hundred Settlers into his grant on the Brazos. Thereafter, Americans poured through Nacogdoches, the Gateway to Texas, in search of cheap land. By the time of the Texas revolution in 1836, Anglos greatly outnumbered the Spanish-Mexican population.The Mexican flag that flew over Nacogdoches and still flies over Mexico was adopted in 1825. It has three vertical green, white, and red fields of equal width. In the center of the white field is the Mexican eagle sitting on a nopal cactus holding a snake in its beak. In Mexican legend, this was a sign to the Aztecs that they had reached the land that was to be their home.Bernardo Gutiérrez and Lieutenant Augustus Magee flew their green flag of the new Republic of Texas over the Stone Fort in Nacogdoches in August of 1812. The Republican Army of the North, as these filibusters called themselves, had come from Natchitoches to Nacogdoches to recruit and train troops with the help of Samuel Davenport. They stayed for two months, drilled an army of over five hundred men, and then marched on to capture Goliad and San Antonio.Magee died at Goliad, and his place was taken by Samuel Kemper. Kemper and Gutiérrez captured San Antonio and issued a Declaration of Independence of the Republic of Texas on April 6, 1813. This brief time of Texas Independence was over when the Spanish general Joaquín de Arredondo destroyed the remains of the Republican army at the Battle of Medina on August 18, 1813.Augustus Magee and Samuel Davenport, who were in charge of the militia in Nacogdoches, were both Irishmen. That might have governed their choice of the Emerald Green flag as the Republican army's standard.For a brief while, the flag that flew over Nacogdoches was the red-and-white banner of Haden Edward's thirty-seven-day Fredonia Rebellion.Edwards had obtained a grant from Mexico to settle eight hundred families in East Texas in the Nacogdoches area. Unfortunately for him, most of the land had already been settled---legally and illegally---by the early Spanish, by Indians, and by Anglo squatters. His intrusion caused such a disturbance that the Mexican government revoked his grant.Disappointed over the loss of his grant, on December 16, 1826, Haden and his brother Benjamin rode into Nacogdoches, planted their flag in front of the Stone Fort, and proclaimed the Republic of Fredonia. They had formed an uncertain alliance with the Cherokees, thus the reason for the red and white colors of the flag. The flag carried the words "Independence Freedom and Justice" and the Signatures of sixteen of the original Fredonians.The Fredonian army consisted of no more than thirty men, the Cherokees never joined them, and Stephen F. Austin raised a militia to put down the East Texas rebellion. The Fredonians gave up their cause on January 22, 1827, and retreated eastward across the Sabine.Some Americans believed that Texas was part of Louisiana as claimed by LaSalle in 1682 and should have been included in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. One of those was Dr. James Long of Natchez, Mississippi, who came to Nacogdoches in June of 1819. Dr. Long proclaimed himself the president of his newly declared Republic of Texas.Dr. Long's red-striped Lone Star flag flew but briefly over the Stone Fort and his Republic of Texas. The Spanish caught Long when he went to Galveston, where he was seeking the assistance of pirate Jean Lafitte. There they defeated him and his meager army and chased him back to Louisiana.Dr. Long returned to Texas with a small army in 1821 and quickly captured the poorly manned garrison at Goliad. However, he was soon under siege by Spanish troops from San Antonio, who recaptured Goliad and took him captive. Dr. James Long was taken to Mexico City, jailed, then freed, and then murdered under mysterious circumstances by a Mexican soldier.Mexican Texas became the Republic of Texas after Sam Houston defeated Santa Anna on the plains of San Jacinto on April 21, 1836.The first official flag was a white upside-down star on a blue background with T-E-X-A-S written between the points of the star. This flag never flew. The second flag of the Republic was adopted by the first Texas congress in December 1836. It bore a single, large gold star on a blue field. This flag was the same design as the "Bonnie blue flag that bears a single star" that was so popular among the Southern troops during the Civil War.The Lone Star flag that we now use was designed by Texas Senator William H. Wharton and was officially adopted by the Senate under President Mirabeau B. Lamar in 1839. The new flag kept the white star on the blue field, but now the blue field was a vertical stripe which occupied one-third of the flag, and it was balanced by horizontal white and red stripes, on the other two-thirds. This Texas flag has been prominently displayed for over 150 years.For four years, the Stars and Bars flew over Nacogdoches and Texas.After years of conflicts of interest between the North and the South over states rights, slavery, and the right of secession, the Civil War began in March of 1861. Texas seceded and joined the Confederate States of America. It sent its Texas brigades into battle, and suffered for four years with the rest of the Confederacy before General Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox Courthouse on April 9, 1865.The most enduring of the Confederate flags during the War was the Stars and Bars with the square of blue holding a circle of the seven original seceding states. Texas was the seventh star.Because the Confederate Stars and Bars and the Union Stars and Stripes were easily confused in the heat of battle, General P.G.T. Beauregard introduced a Confederate battle flag. This was a square red flag with a white-bordered blue cross running diagonally from corners to corners. The cross contained thirteen stars representing the eleven Confederate states plus Kentucky and Missouri. This battle flag became the flag most closely identified with the Southern cause.The Confederate Stars and Bars came down in Texas after April 1863 and Appomattox, and the United States Stars and Stripes have been flying over this State ever since.On February 19, 1846, the Lone Star flag was lowered over the Texas state capitol in Austin, and the Stars and Stripes was raised. The Republic of Texas had become the State of Texas.From the beginning of the Republic in 1836, the majority of the Texians, most of whom had come directly from the States, had wanted Texas to join the Union. But many in the Union did not want Texas in the United States. Some did not want one more Southern slave-holding state, and some were afraid of causing a war with Mexico. Nevertheless, on July 4, 1845, the Texas congress voted to accept the articles of annexation offered by United States President James K. Polk, and on December 29, 1845, the congressional resolution proclaiming Texas as a state in the Union was signed by President Polk.The Old Glory that was raised above the Texas state capitol on the following February 19, 1846, had twenty-eight stars in four rows of seven stars each.Except for the four years of the Civil War, 1861 to 1865, these Stars and Stripes have since 1846 flown over the State of Texas.************ The Town Begins **********************Antonio Gil Y'Barbo, a prominent Spanish trader, emerged as the leader of the settlers, and in the spring of 1779, he led a group back to Nacogdoches. Later that summer, Nacogdoches received designation from Mexico as a pueblo, or town, thereby making it the first "town" in Texas. Y'Barbo, as lieutenant governor of the new town, established the rules and laws for local government. He laid out streets with the intersecting State Highway 21 (El Camino Real) and U.S. Highway 259 (La Calle del Norte, North Street) as the central point. On the main thoroughfare, he built a stone house for use in his trading business. The house, or Old Stone Fort as it is known today, became a gateway from the United States to the vast Texas frontier.The city has been under more flags than the state of Texas, claiming nine flags. In addition to the Six Flags of Texas, it also flew under these flags: The Magee-Gutierrez Republic, The Long Republic, and The Fredonia Republic.People from the United States began to settle in Nacogdoches in 1820. It was the center of Hayden Edwards's Fredonia Republic in 1826. It was also the site of the first newspaper published in Texas.In the Cherokee War of 1830, the tribe was expelled from East Texas. In 1838, Spanish settlers launched an unsuccessful last-ditch attempt to regain control of East Texas in the short-lived Cordova Rebellion. Anglo control was permanently established by 1839.Thomas Jefferson Rusk was one of the most prominent early Nacogdoches settlers. A veteran of the Texas Revolution, he signed the Texas Declaration of Independence and was secretary of war during the Republic of Texas. He was president of the Texas Statehood Commission. He worked to establish Nacogdoches University, which began in 1845 but later collapsed. Rusk committed suicide on July 29, 1857.In 1859, the first oil well in Texas began operation here, but it was never so well known as Spindletop, drilled in 1901 near Beaumont.In 1912, the Marx Brothers came to town to perform their singing act at the old Opera House. Their performance was interrupted by a man who came inside shouting, "Runaway mule!" Most of the audience left the building, apparently thinking a runaway mule would provide better entertainment. When they filed back in, Julius (later known as Groucho) began insulting them, saying "Nacogdoches is full of roaches!" and "The jackass is the flower of Tex-ass!" Instead of becoming angry, audience members laughed. Soon afterward, Julius and his brothers decided to try their hand at comedy instead of singing, at which they had barely managed to scrape together a living. A historic plaque commemorating the event is posted in downtown Nacogdoches. Given the location of this formative experience, the Brothers' later decision, during the making of Duck Soup, to name the imaginary country "Freedonia" hardly seems coincidental.In 1997, singer Willie Nelson came to Nacogdoches to perform with his friend, Paul Buskirk, a renowned mandolin player. During his stay, Nelson recorded a number of jazz songs at Encore Studios. In 2004, he released those recordings on a CD entitled Nacogdoches.On February 1, 2003, the Space Shuttle Columbia broke up during re-entry, depositing debris across Texas. Much of the debris landed in Nacogdoches, and much of the media coverage of the disaster focused on Nacogdoches.On September 24, 2005, Hurricane Rita struck Nacogdoches as a Category 1 hurricane. Nacogdoches experienced the same problems Houston was having because of the unprecedented number of people evacuating the Houston-Galveston area. The city's local shelters were already overwhelmed with evacuees that had come from New Orleans because of Hurricane Katrina. Long lines at gas stations, shortages of supplies, food and fuel were widespread. Many Houstonians took the Eastex Freeway (U.S. Highway 59) out of Houston to evacuate through East Texas. Travel times between Nacogdoches and Houston were reported taking about 24-36 hours, when normal travel time is about 2 hours. As a result of Hurricane Rita, U.S. Highway 59 has been designated as an evacuation route by TXDOT, with all of it lanes to be used for contraflow traffic. Nacogdoches was designated as the north end terminus of the contraflow/evacuation route.Nacogdoches hosts the Texas Blueberry Festival the second Saturday in June. The county is the top blueberry producer in Texas and is headquarters for the Texas Blueberry Marketing Association. The city recently tagged itself as the "Capital of the Texas Forest Country". The community is one of the first Texas Certified Retirement Communities.Once a Democratic stronghold, Nacogdoches has in recent years moved steadily toward the Republican Party, being represented in the United States Congress and the Texas State Legislature by Republicans.The Multicultural Festival is held in May of each year hosted by Sacred Heart Catholic Church in the downtown area at the center of the city's historic district. This view looks West across the town square and the Historic Town Center from the middle of Fredonia Street and El Camino Real to its Intersection with Highway 59 (La Calle del Norte). On the far right near the flag of Mexico stood the Old Stone Fort, built by Gil Y'Barbo in 1779-81, a building that served as headquarters and meeting place for political and military events that helped to shape the development of Texas. From the earliest claims and resulting conflicts made to this territory by the French, Spanish, and Mexican governments, through the skirmishes of the Magee-Gutierrez (1812), the James Long Expedition (1819), and the Fredonia Rebellion of 1826, through the Battle of Nacogdoches (1832), an initial struggle in the movement for independence, this theater was the gateway, the crossroads through which the vast land of Texas emerged as a Republic to become the 28th state. On the left the tops of the Municipal, Ingraham, Mahdeen, and City Hall buildings can be seen. These buildings face Pilar, named after the early Catholic Church "Nuestra Senora del Pilar", and the earliest residential street of the homes of such patriots as John S. Roberts, Adolphus Sterne, Thomas J. Rusk, and General Sam Houston, first president of the Republic of Texas. Personalities, Places, and events in the history of Nacogdoches are depicted in the large colorful mural in the Historic Town Center along with a display of primitive tools, costumes, and relics of the Caddoan Indian tribes, who were the first inhabitants of this land. Today the festival celebrates a spirit of unity and harmony among the diversity of peoples whose flags are unfurled in an expression of good will and cooperation on the ancient Plaza Principal.The Parade of Nations in Historic Nacogdoches held anually to kick off The Multicultural Festival Sponsored by Sacred Heart Catholic Church of Nacogdoches.The Stephen F. Austin State University Homecoming Parade in Historic NacogdochesThe Veterans Day Parade continues west on Hospital St., named after the 18th century Spanish hospital that existed in this block. Hospital begins on the east at La Nana St. where it meets the iron-gated entrance to historic Oak Grove Cemetery that borders on La Nana Creek Trail and La Nana Creek. On the west it ends at Pearl St. whose boundary is defined by Banita Park and Banita Creek.Hospital St. is the Avenue of several significant sites in the history of Nacogdoches. Coming west from Oak Grove Cemetery it first crosses Mound St., named after the ancient Caddoan ceremonial mounds that once existed nearby in the Washington Square District. Only one mound exists today.The Greek Revival styled John Durst house (1850), now an interior decorating business, remains at the southeast corner of Hospital and Church St. On the opposite corner is the Roland Jones House (1898), designed by architect Diedrich A. Rulfs in the ornate Queen Anne Victorian style. It is a bed and breakfast Hostelry.The Nacogdoches Title Company is the contemporary building seen to the far right in this picture. Across Fredonia St. on the corner is the mini-garden of 3 Bradford pear trees and octagon shaped fountain with pedestal and statuette that was contributed by the Flora Garden Club of Nacogdoches. In the 18th century the Spanish held bullfights in this area which is across the street from the Fredonia Hotel.The Flag Bearers pass in front of Fredonia Hotel through the intersection of Fredonia St. The street and the hotel are named after the Fredonian Rebellion of 1826, a struggle in which citizens of Nacogdoches, including Haden Edwards and Adolphus Sterne, attempted to establish an independent Fredonian Republic. The red and white flag of the Fredonian Rebellion with the words "Independence, Liberty, and Justice" was raised above the Stone Fort for as brief time in this unsuccessful movement.The First United Methodist Church, center left, is the idyllic expression of church architecture in the American landscape. Designed in 1969 by Nacogdoches Architects Maynard and Greer, this building combines classical Ionic columns at the entrance supporting a portico with wreath decorated pediment and a seven stage Gothic tower set to the side. The inlaid circular stones with radiating geometric patterns above the main doorway and on the tower are simplified refinements of the medieval rose window. This building replaces the earlier 1910 Gothic styled church at the same location which was constructed over a frame church existing here between 1887 and 1907. The 1860 to 1887 Methodist Church stood directly across the street at the southeast corner of Hospital and Pecan, the same location as the early Spanish Infirmary or Hospital after which the street was named.The Mize Building, with the 2 flags displayed above, spans Hospital between Pecan and North St., or U.S. Highway 59, (historically known as La Calle del Norte.) It was constructed in the early 1960's and continues as the Mize Department Store with various professional offices occupying the expanded ground level and 2nd through 4th floors. This was the location of the old Hart Hotel, originally the Frost Thorn House.A State of Texas Historial Marker near the southeast corner of U.S. Highway 59 and Hospital St. identifies the location of the 1804 residence of James Dill, the first mayor of Nacogdoches: "Born in Pennsylvania in 1770, pioneer Indian trader, Recognized by the King of Spain as a public spirited citizen, first Alcalde of Nacogdoches under the Mexican Government in 1821." Between this point and the Roland Jones House three blocks east there existed in colonial times the Old Cabildo or jail, the infirmary, and the area where the Spanish held bullfights. These 3 sites are not designated by historical markers since their exact locations on Hospital St. are not firmly established.Millard's Crossing is a collection of 19th century buildings that were brought together and arranged in the pattern of a small village on part of a 37 acre estate by Mrs. Albert Thomas. All of the restored structures come from Nacogdoches County and are an effort to preserve and display early buildings, antiques, tools, and memorabilia that are part of the cultural heritage of Texas. In the Sitton dog-trot house, (1843) and the Watkins Log House, (1830) the technique of log house construction can be observed, while the Victorian style and country church Gothic can be seen in the Methodist Parsonage, (1900) and the Free Methodist Chapel, (1905). The Country Store replicates a general store where needed goods and services such a hair cut, shoe shine, bath, and general provisions were available. The Double Corn Crib, (late 1800's) houses archaic farm tools and the small Log Office, (1860's) in shape and size, was typical of most offices in 19th century East Texas. Among the artifacts framed on the wall of the small one room Log School House with its wood burning stove, faded primers, and worn antiquated desks is a nine point code of conduct for teachers in 1872 revealing the austere, simple, and focused way of life followed by the people who settled this land.The Sitton log house is the first of several early American structures that the visitor sees on entering Millard's Crossing, a 37 acre complex of restored 19th century homes and buildings resembling a small village that were brought together and arranged by Mrs. Albert Thomas in 1968. Built in 1843, the Sitton house is typical of log house construction that developed on the American frontier between 1815 and 1880. Originating from Swedish, Finnish, and German prototypes, log house construction spread from the Delaware valley through the southern states and into Texas by pioneers and immigrant Indian groups. The characteristic "dog-trot" house, known also as a"dog-run", "2P", "double pen", "saddlebag" and "breezeway" type, consists of 2 rooms of similar size separated by an open space in the middle called a breezeway; a covered porch across the south side; a gabled roof on the ends; and one or two chimneys of ironstone or sandstone finished at the top with smaller stones or brick. Here, the logs are planked on the side and contact only where they meet at the corners with the technique of square notching. The chinking, or space between the logs, allowed for inconsistencies of fit resulting from unseasoned timbers, tapering, and warping. The chinks were later filled with wood chips, milled timber, stone fragments, moss, straw, grass, animal hairs, and bonded with various combinations of mud, clay, lime, or water. The doors of the two rooms open into the breezeway and not onto the front of the structure which is elevated one to two feet above the ground on stone and log pillars.The Ruby M. Mize Azalea Garden in Historic NacogdochesThe Ruby M. Mize Azalea Garden is a 8-acre public garden situated in a 50 year old loblolly pine forest on the banks of La Nana Creek in the University District. It was created between 1997 and 2001 as a project of the Horticultural Department of Stephen F. Austin State University with the assistance of area nurserymen, the Azalea Society of America, and public and private donors.One of the largest in the state, Mize Azalea Garden contains 46 informally shaped beds connected by over one mile of named walking trails that meet at the Council Ring, a central location from which the entire garden may be viewed. The informal garden is based upon a natural design that takes into account ecological sensitivity, indigenous plantings, and the Council Ring, gardening ideas that have been associated with the work of Jens Jensen (1860-1951) and the Chicago Prairie group of landscape architects that valued the American impulse to preserve local plantings in a natural setting of uninterrupted space as a preference to the exotic geometric compartmentalization of previous traditions. The beds are a mosaic of complex variable shapes, many following the irregular pattern of soft-pointed triangles that are outlined by the pleasing curves of meandering walkways, the whole design comparable to a huge earthen stained glass window reflecting through the canopy of tall pines the prismatic colorations of the more than 8000 plants that have been arranged to present colors throughout the year.The garden contains 6,500 azaleas, 200 camellias, 200 varieties of Japanese maples, 180 varieties of Hydrangea, and 400 ornamental trees and shrubs. There are 511 different named cultivars in the Azalea Collection, some of which are showcase varieties being introduced by growers in Texas and across the South. The Camellia Forest Loop contains 200 cultivars including the fall blooming Camellia sasanqua and the winter blooming C. japonica. The special collections of unique ornamental woody species includes cultivars of the Japanese Plum Yew, Chinese Witch-Hazel, American Smoke Tree, and the Chinese Fringe Tree.Mize Azalea Garden is the focal point of historic Nacogdoches' Azalea Trail that includes over 20 miles of garden displays in the residential districts and is scheduled each year between March 22 and April 5 during the peak blooming season.³ Nacogdoches recently became the first city in the United States to earn the distinction of "Azalea City of America" by the Azalea Society of America and has been selected to host the international organization's annual convention in 2007.