LOCAL NEWS
Historical Indian marker tree in Holliday regains attention
Published July 28, 2025, by ASHLEY WATERS
HOLLIDAY (KFDX/KJTL) — A recent Facebook post about the historical Indian Marker tree has gained considerable traction from residents.
The Pecan tree was claimed by the Comanche Nation in 2017, but attention was renewed after a Facebook post by “All Things Texas.” The Indian marker tree located at Stonewall Jackson Camp Number 249 is one of seven authentic Indian Marker trees in Texas.
Many residents have left comments and pictures of trees with arches on their own property that they think could potentially also be marker trees. Many have also left comments and concerns that the tree is not historically accurate.
Comanche elder Phyllis Narkomi said that the trees directed their ancestors to resources.
“These marker trees were significant because they told us where water was, and they would also tell us which direction there was another watering hole,” Narkomi said. “You weren’t ever lost, even though there was no highways and no compass you know, we knew where we were going.”
The tree points to a small creek, which is its initial purpose. An Indian Marker tree is identified by a horizontal bend several feet off the ground with a bump and must be over 100 years old.
Member of the Texas Historic Tree Coalition, Steve Houser has been studying these trees for over 20 years, and it’s his mission to reconnect Comanches to the trees.
“I’ve seen a lot of trees bent by nature, but this is not a bend and a shape that I found created by nature,” Houser said.
According to the Texas Historic Tree Coalition, the tree is aged at 150 years old.
While time may eventually take its toll, the roots of Indigenous history still run deep in Holliday.