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Panna Maria Oaks LbNA #68079

Owner:Silver Eagle Supporter Verified
Plant date:Jan 28, 2015
Location: Panna Maria Cemetery
City:Panna Maria
County:Karnes
State:Texas
Boxes:1
Found by: Not yet found!
Last found:N/A
Last edited:Jan 28, 2015
*** Part of my Famous Trees Of TX Series ***
Terrain Difficulty: Easy (flat, 100 yards RT)
Recommended Ink: brown, red & green
Status: alive


Texans are fortunate to have such a rich and colorful historic heritage and trees which serve as witnesses to some of these historic events. Texas has also been blessed with trees famous for being the largest of their kind in America. "Famous Trees Of Texas" is a book written in 1970 by the Texas Forest Service that describes these trees, and this series will take you to some of them.


Assembled under these live oak trees on Christmas Eve in 1854, a strangely garbed group of seven or eight hundred settlers bent in prayer as a young priest conducted Mass. In spite of their many hardships and a dwindling population, the deeply religious people made plans to build a church, and the next summer the first Polish church in America was built beside these historic live oaks. The town was named Panna Maria, which means Virgin Mary, and it was the first Polish settlement in the New World. The original church burned down in 1875, but the current Panna Maria Immaculate Conception Catholic Church was built in 1877, also next to these Panna Maria Oaks. After visiting the trees you can find this letterbox in the nearby Panna Maria Cemetery.

Directions:
From Hwy 123 go east on Hwy 81 about 0.8 mile to the Panna Maria Oaks on the north side of the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church. For the letterbox, go back west on Hwy 81 about 0.1 mile to CR 242 and go right for about 0.7 mile to Panna Maria Cemetery on the right. Park near main entrance.

Clues:
Walk through main gate to end of concrete at shrine for Antonia Rex. Go left 45 steps to multi-trunk cedar tree next to Bednorz grave. Go on back side of tree and look for LB within left trunks under needles and sticks.