The culture of the Pineywoods goes back a thousand years--to the great Caddoan Indian civilization that flourished here centuries before the Europeans’ arrival in Texas. Today, Pineywoods arts and culture mix the down-home with the cutting edge--and testify to the region’s diverse mix of people and traditions.
The town of Edom--in Van Zandt County just a few miles west of the city Tyler--is miniscule. Though Edom was founded in 1849, its population has never topped 300. But size isn’t everything. Beginning in the 1960s, artisans attracted to the hamlet’s comfortably rustic ways and laid-back atmosphere began settling here. Now, Edom’s main drag--a stretch of FM 279--is loaded with shops purveying one-of-a-kind wares by local potters, jewelry makers, glassmakers, and more. Why, there’s even a gourmet food shop. And every October, Edom welcomes scores of artists and craftspeople from all over Texas and beyond to the Edom Festival of the Arts.
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Email: pineywoods@conservationfund.org
