The City of Bonham is celebrating bois d’arc trees as part of the Bonham Heritage Day Festival at 10 a.m. Saturday, May 3 at the Fannin County Courthouse, 101 East Sam Rayburn Drive.
The Bonham and Fannin County connection with bois d’arc wood begins in the 1700s when the French explorers came across the Caddo Indians in Northeast Texas. The French soon realized that the local Natives had a flourishing business trading what the Caddo called “wood of the arc” or “bow wood” with other tribes from a wide area. The French translation of this impenetrable, highly sought after wood is bois d’arc. The Caddo were instrumental in teaching the French how to use wood from the bois d’arc tree.
This gave way to settlements and stability in an otherwise unforgiving land. The phrase bois d’arc was passed down to European settlers who named their territory the Village of Bois d’Arc located on Bois d’Arc Creek. This village was renamed Bonham in 1840, would be our city’s name until it was renamed Bonham in 1840, after the fallen Alamo war soldier James Butler Bonham.
More than 180 years later, the name bois d’arc was requested to honor important local history and recognize the bois d’arc tree as a distinctive symbol with special significance for the region. The citizens and officials of Bonham and Fannin County fought to change the name of Texas’ newest reservoir, located in Fannin County, from The North Texas Municipal Lake to the Bois d’Arc Lake. The U.S. Department of the Interior officially recognized the name Bois d’Arc Lake on February 21, 2022, and it is open to the public for boating and fishing, and has three picnic areas with restrooms.
Representatives of the Caddo Nation and the French Consulate will be in attendance and presented special pens made of bois d’arc by David Keene. The hardy tree is also known as Osage orange. Keene has presented local and state officials with the pens for many years. From swearing in ceremonies to official state visits, the pens are synonymous with public duty and pride representing Bonham’s past, present and future.
Commemorative bois d’arc pens are available for purchase the day of the event at the Creative Arts Center, located at 200 W. 5th Street in Bonham.
The public and guests are invited to the planting of a special bois d’arc tree on the grounds of the historic Fannin County Courthouse at 11:00 a.m. hosted by the Bonham Area Chamber of Commerce. The tree was picked out and donated by Texoma’s bois d’arc tree expert, John Baecht. Baecht is the social media creator and administrator of the Facebook page Bois DArc Kingdom, with more than18,000 followers. He will have a bois d’arc woodworking station set up on the grounds of the courthouse and do demonstrations the remainder of the day.
Also on May 3 is the Red River Arts Festival at the Creative Arts Center, 200 West Fifth in Bonham. Local artists are selling their works and making demonstrations. They’ll have live music in the garden, food trucks, beer and wine.
The Bonham Heritage Day Festival takes place all day that Saturday with live music, kid zone, 5K run, car show, cornhole, shopping, courthouse tours, chuckwagon cooking, beer and wine garden, and art demonstrations. To plan a visit, get more information from the Bonham Visitor Center, (903) 583-9830, or email [email protected].
