Editor's note: This article was originally published May 11, 2011. I had the unique pleasure of working with Dr. Fred Tarpley to raise awareness of the historical impact bois d'arc trees have had on North Texas. In our absence, David Keene has carried on admirably as ambassador of the Bois d'Arc Kingdom.

Fannin County, Texas -- In recognition of the regional impact of the bois d’arc tree and its potential as a tourist magnet, the Bois d’Arc Kingdom was founded in March 2011 when invitations were sent to thirteen northeast Texas county judges inviting them to enroll their counties as members of the new domain. Fred Tarpley, founding director of the Commerce Bois d’Arc Bash, and Allen Rich, editor and publisher of the North Texas e-News in Bonham, served as acting prime ministers of the kingdom.  County judges were invited to appoint ambassadors to represent their respective regions.

To be eligible for membership, each county must be a place where the bois d’arc tree, also known as Osage orange and by a score of other names, is thriving.  Each county will begin its membership by listing at least three bois d’arc tourist destinations.  For example, Hunt County, home of Commerce, the Bois d’Arc Capital of Texas, can offer the Commerce Bois d’Arc Bash each September; bois d’arc paving bricks from downtown Greenville streets; Commerce’s Big Max, the second largest bois d’arc tree in Texas; and the Bois d’Arc Crafters of Commerce.

 

Fannin County, whose county seat of Bonham had the original name of Bois d’Arc, can show visitors hanging trees where public executions occurred a few blocks north of the square, and Bois d’Arc Springs near the Caddo National Grasslands, where early travelers forded Bois d’Arc Creek as early as the 1840s and inscribed their names on sandstones there.  The largest bois d’arc forest ever known once stood on either side of Bois d’Arc Creek in Fannin and Lamar counties near the Sanders Site, regarded as one of the most important archeological areas in Texas.  Fannin County is also the home of Orangeville, which got its name when Yankees mistook the horse apples for citrus oranges.

           

Bois d’Arc Lake, located just northeast of Bonham, it is expected to be a major recreational area.  Archeologists believe that the Fannin County creek was the first of many to be named for the bois d’arc trees growing its course.  As a survivor of the last ice age, the bois d’arc tree, which had previously grown as far north as Toronto, Canada, was confined to an area in the Red River valley, which remains today its only native habitat on planet Earth.  Although seeds from the Red River area have produced trees all over the world, those trees are descendants of ancestors in the Bois d’Arc Kingdom.

           

At a January 2010 conference in Ladonia on the history of the North Sulphur River Valley sponsored by the Corps of Engineers, Dr. S. Alan Skinner, a Dallas archeologist, expressed his belief that the one thing attracting people to the river valley 10,000 to 15,000 years ago was “harvesting bois d’arc wood for use and trade.”  Recent archeological studies have established that bois d’arc brought Indians to the Sanders Site at the mouth of Red River to obtain their favored wood for bows, arrow, and battle clubs.

           

Tarpley and Rich hope to create a map of the domain to identify bois d’arc destinations in the region. 

In a joint statement, the prime ministers said, “No tree surpasses bois d’arc for its fascination and many uses.  The Bois d’Arc Kingdom will promote unity of Northeast Texas counties, deepen interest in the historic tree, and give families many new sites for enjoying its history and importance on our landscape.”