Where the Mother Pecan Lives On

In San Saba, Texas, a century-old legacy gives a tight-knit town something to be proud of

- KAITLYN YARBOROUGH SADIK,CEDRIC ANGELES

I’m hit with a familiar scent breezing through the car window as I drive into San Saba, Texas. You can smell a pecan grove in its autumnal flourish before you see it—that much I know from growing up among the tangly, spindly limbed trees. A dusty earthiness floats through the rows and settles in the air for the whole season, which kicks off when the nuts start to drop carelessly to the ground and doesn’t stop until after the holidays.

San Saba heralds itself as the Pecan Capital of the World. Despite having a population of just over 3,000 residents, the tiny Texas town can feasibly warrant such a lofty reputation, as they shell out hundreds of thousands of pecans each year. You can certainly sense the community’s pride by the shelves groaning with the nuts in every store, restaurant, gas station—you name it. It’s perhaps rivaled only by the support for the San Saba High School Armadillos. On fall game days, the football team and marching band parade onto the field to loud cheers and hollers, fresh out of a Friday Night Lights episode.

Though it could seem like a place to quietly pass through, if you stop to take in its endearing smallness, you’ll find that this town has a heart bigger than most, particularly during its favored season.

TASTE OF TRADITION (Clockwise from left) When the fall season is in full swing, look for tractors shaking produce from the trees. Millican Pecan's Caramillicans are made in-house and are offered online. Five generations of Millican family members have worked the farm.

Deep Roots