Home of the World's Largest Pecan
Seguin, Texas
In Seguin, Texas, a nut claims to be World's Largest Pecan. The giant pecan that sits in front of the Seguin, TX, city hall was the brainchild of a dentist, who wanted to put his plastering skills to civic use. Erected in 1962, the pecan is five feet long and 2 1/2 feet wide, and weighs approximately 1000 pounds. It was dedicated to Cabeza de Vaca, a Spanish explorer who was held captive on the Guadalupe, known then as the 'River of Nuts,' for ten years. He thrived on a diet of local pecans. Seguin began billing itself as "Home of the World's Largest Pecan, " a title it held for twenty years.
But a bigger Pecan now stands near the town of Brunswick, Missouri, a mighty goober clenches the official title, but for how long? Seguin's puny replica has the backing of an entire town with apparently little else going for it: the city motto has remained "Home of the World's Largest Pecan," regardless of how many postcards are mailed from Brunswick to Seguin's Chamber of Commerce. Brunswick's Pecan, hefty though it may be, is in a lightly traveled part of north-central Missouri, outside of town and off by itself.
It's time for Seguin to build a bigger Pecan -- or for Brunswick to adopt their Mad Hammer as the school mascot and kick Seguin in the .... well, you know.
Update - February 2005: In Seguin, TX, a local pecan businessman, John Pape, had a giant pecan created and mounted on a truck frame so it could appear in parades and at events. The 10-ft. long, 5 ft. wide fiberglass steel-framed sculpture of a "Desirable Pecan" stands next to the Pape Pecan House. John said that if he'd known about the big pecan in Brunswick, MO, he would've made his bigger.