Everything is BIGGER in Texas: World’s Largest Attractions in Central Texas

Texans love the idea that everything’s bigger in Texas. For them, size does matter.

Within a day’s drive of Austin, visitors can tour some of the world’s largest things, including the largest pecan in Seguin, the largest watermelon tower in Luling, and the largest squirrel statue in Cedar Creek.

The Nuttiest Bunch

Home to the world’s largest pecan, Sequin is one of the oldest cities in Texas established in 1838. Located 40 minutes outside of San Antonio, it has a small population is fewer than 27,000 people.

However, when it comes to their pecans, the towns people go absolutely nuts.

In 1962, a local dentist decided to put his plastering skills to use and created the world’s largest pecan. The nut was five feet long and 2 ½ feet wide with an approximant weight of 1,000 pounds.

Twenty years later, in Brunswick, Missouri, local farmers George and Elizabeth James built an even larger pecan that stood 7-feet tall and 12-feet wide weighing in at 12,000 pounds, according to Roadside America.

Many years later, back in Sequin, a local pecan businessman John Pape, unaware of the competition in Missouri, built, what stands on record today as the world’s second largest pecan, coming in at 10-feet long and 5-feet wide.

In 2007, Sherry Neeford-Esse, the President of the Seguin Area Chamber of Commerce, traveled to Missouri to scope out the competition. Four years later, the city of Seguin reclaimed its title by building a pecan that is 16-feet long and 8-feet high that sits outside of a big red barn about 3 miles from the Pape Co. pecan.

Other than their pecan, there is not much to the city; two roadways pass through the small town with a grass divider separating those coming in and those going out. Along the street are shops and businesses like McDonalds and Walgreens, with a nail shop and other smaller businesses propped along the sides of the roads, and that’s about it. Unless the plan is to visit Seguin, it’s a very easy town miss.

The town was originally called Walnut Springs, for its location next to fresh water sources. Almost a year later, it was changed to honor Colonel Juan N. Seguin, one of Sam Houston’s best Lieutenants during Texas’ fight for independence.

The Guadalupe River also runs near the town, Founded in 1689 by Alonzo deLeon, many Texans consider it to be the most beautiful river in the state. The city’s pecan is dedicated to Cabeza de Vaca, who discovered the pecans during his ten-year captivity near the river in 1529.

The large fiberglass steel-framed pecan is what brings in travelers from all over the world.

“The other day, we had a couple come in that was going back to Canada and they bought over $400 worth of pecans just to take back home,” said Grace Craft, the public relations representative at Pape Co., the city’s largest pecan shop.

“During our busy seasons, September thru January, we have all sorts of people coming in buying corporate gifts, fundraisers, Christmas gifts, and materials for holiday baking.”

Watermelon Thumping at the Top

Roughly 30-minutes east I-10E is Luling, Texas, home to two titleholders; the world’s largest watermelon and the world’s largest 3-D watermelon sign.

The small town is home to about 6,000 residents who pride themselves on their barbecue, but more importantly, their watermelons.

In 1954 Luling’s “The Thump” emerged as a festival to celebrate the town’s local watermelon and tomato growers. Once the tomatoes fell off the scene a few years later, the watermelon became the star of the show according to city’s website.

The festival includes live music from Texas bands, seed-spitting contests and a Miss Watermelon Queen pageant held in the last week of June.

Similar to Sequin, Luling locals would not let a non-Texas city claim their title.

Utah has a 25-foot long watermelon statue that made its début in the 1950’s for their Watermelon Days festival, held every August.

The exact date is unknown, but after Utah’s unveiling of their massive watermelon statue, the town’s people of Luling got together and rallied behind the idea of a watermelon inspired water tower according to Kelly Allen, a Luling native.

The Watermelon Thump water tower in Luling squashes the competition. At 154-feet tall, the water tank is 56-feet in diameter, shaped and painted to resemble the towns’ crowning glory. It stands behind the city’s police station in a wide-open green field, visible from three major passing highways.

Kelly Allen owned the Watermelon shop, located roughly two blocks from the tower. Before she decided to open an art studio and close the shop last June, her shop won the title Worlds Largest 3-D Sign of a Watermelon.

“About half of the items we had in here were watermelons. We won an international sign award for our watermelon sign, but now we are changing the words on it and donating it to the Water Thump organization,” said Allen.

Located in-between an art shop and a hair salon, the watermelon sign is the only one on the strip that can be seen for many blocks.

However massive it may be, it does not compare to the World’s Largest Squirrel statue in Cedar Creek.

Ms. Pearl the Giant Squirrel

North on Highway 71E in Cedar Creek, Texas, roughly 40 minutes outside of Luling, is the home of Ms. Pearl, the world’s largest squirrel statue.

The highway is a long stretch of road with rolling hills and minimal eye-catching attractions, with the exception of the 14-foot tall statue that guards the Berdoll Pecan Candy and Gift Company shop.

Built as the mascot for the shop in 2011, the giant squirrel has become somewhat of a Texas sweetheart.

The statue even has her own email address (mspearl@berdoll.com) where fans can send pictures of themselves to be posted on the statue’s personal web gallery.

Visiting Ms. Pearl isn’t a hard nut to crack. Placed strategically on a rather visually dull highway, the beloved figure stands out.

Manuel Gamino was on his way home to Houston from his first trip to Austin when he spotted Ms. Pearl and just had to get a better look.

“We were just passing by and this is my first time in Austin. I got told to take a whole bunch of pictures and my buddy seen a big squirrel and I was like ‘she has a nut in her hand. I’m going to take it’,” said Gamino.

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If you have a deep craving to see something that is the world’s largest and is not man made, then Texas is probably not the place. However there is a long list of world’s largest sites that include the world’s largest cowboy boots in San Antonio or the world’s largest Burger at Charlie Brown’s Burger Horse in Carrolton.

For other things that Texas has to offer, see Roadside America, or visit the World’s Largest Things Incorporated at their website, worldslargestthings.com to see some of the BIGGER things the state known for its size has to offer.