EARLY – It’s open! Along the Pecan Bayou in Early, Texas, at the Early Town Center, the Penatuhkah Comanche Trails was officially dedicated this past weekend. The two-day cultural celebration honored the rich history and heritage of the Comanche people. This special event featured traditional ceremonies, Comanche dancers, educational presentations, artifacts, and meaningful community connections that provided opportunities to come together, learn, and celebrate an incredible milestone.

Representatives from Chambers of Commerce, museums, historical societies, and landowners of sites of cultural importance from twelve communities have united under the auspices of the Comanche Nation of Oklahoma to stimulate heritage tourism across Central Texas through a driving trail. Participating towns include Goldthwaite, Paint Rock, Ballinger, Cross Plains, Coleman, Comanche, Early, DeLeon, Brownwood, Menard, San Saba, and Santa Anna. Frontier Texas, Texas Forts Trail, and the Texas Midwest Community Network are also involved. Each community was provided a booth showcasing how it fits into the trail and why visitors should explore those cities to discover more of this remarkable history.

Two special events took place during the event. A twenty-five-foot-tall tipi built by Darren St. Ama of Savage Saint Ironworks of Brownwood was dedicated and blessed by tribal elders and medicine men from the Comanche Nation of Lawton, Oklahoma. In addition, the elders also bent and blessed a Indian Marker Tree. The tree points to the location near San Saba, Texas, where the 1847 Treaty between the Penatuhkah and Germans of Fredericksburg was signed.

The Trails honors the heritage of the people that ruled Texas in this area two hundred years ago. The tipi and the tree are just two of the stops on the driving trail following the traditional nomadic path of the Penatuhkah Comanche. Come see the rest of it.