Nell in 1972, the DeGolyer children donated the estate to Southern Methodist University, which later sold it to the City of Dallas. Combined with the purchase of the adjacent Camp Estate, it opened to the public in 1984 as the Dallas Arboretum. The estate is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and is open for daily tours. At the DeGolyer house, visitors can enjoy an elegant seated meal or a seasonal and delicious three-course tea amid the festive settings of the beautiful DeGolyer Tea Room. Across Texas, pumpkin fun is popping up FUN IN FLOYDADA: The this fall. Floyd 2016 Punkin Days is slated for Saturday, Oct. 8. County’s the place to pick ’em, and the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Gardens invites visitors to make a day of it, have a picnic, make memories and take advantage of the beautiful backdrop for dazzling photos.
BARBARA BRANNON/TEXAS PLAINS TRAIL
hunts and more at the Dallas Arboretum. Tens of thousands of visitors stroll the lush, shaded grounds, enjoying one of “America’s Best Pumpkin Festivals” according to Fodor’s Travel, along with other features of a garden begun in 1940. The Arboretum developed around the Everette and Nell DeGolyer estate, Rancho Encinal, on the shores of White Rock Lake. Everette was a successful Dallas oilman, geophysicist, rarebooks collector and philanthropist known as “the founder of applied geophysics in the petroleum industry” and “the father of American geophysics.” Landscape architects Arthur and Marie Berger designed the 4.5-acre DeGolyer Gardens for the family in 1940. Many of the original garden features remain, including the Magnolia Allee, the Sunken Garden and the Octagonal Fountain. After the deaths of Everette in 1956 and
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