HISTORY
OF THE TREE
Courtesy of
Famous Trees Of Texas
Texas Forestry Service
In
the fall of 1890, two young sons of J.H. Burkett
were squirrel hunting in the bottomlands along
Battle Creek, in Callahan County.
Neither realized that a handful of pecans they
gathered from a squirrel's nest that day would
later be a factor in placing their name in the
history of pecan culture.
Their father saw the nuts and, recognizing their
excellence, urged the boys to find the parent
tree.
After
some searching along the south bluff of the river,
they found the tree.
Early
spring Burkett undertook to graft buds from the
tree, but he had no success until 1903.
Someone
destroyed the parent tree in 1910.
But today, thanks to Burkett's work, the variety
is firmly established.
The
Burkett pecan is one of the first papershell pecans.
