Frankford Church on the Prairie

In the last post, we covered the Frankford Prairie. Click here to jump to that post. Today, we will look around and inside the historic Frankford Church. 

The photos in this post were taken on my first visit to the prairie and church on 4-6-18 and my return visit the next week for a guided tour.

The church was built in the late 1890s and restored in the late 2000s.


The church was recorded as a Texas Historic Landmark in 1978.


I assume these are Osage orange logs supporting the church. Osage orange (aka bois d'arc, bodark, hedge apple, horse apple, etc.) has very hard wood. It is very likely that these are the original supports for the building. I also saw some more modern concrete pilings under the building.


The back door.






Old and new. The Church of the Holy Communion was founded in 1963 and used the old church building until the new building was dedicated in 2006.


On my first visit to the prairie and the church, I was only able to look through the windows to see the craftsmanship of the woodwork.


When I visited a week later for the guided tour of the prairie, the church doors were open and the group met inside for an overview of the prairie.

From floor to ceiling, everything is wood inside the church.

The organ repairman.

My artistic shot of the windmill through the wavy glass window.

The church building is used for weddings and special events now. A jazz concert was held in the building last night.

Wood on the ceiling.

One last look at the church from the prairie.


The new church viewed from across the prairie.


The new church has a garden courtyard, so I walked in for a look around. The plaque under the bell says it used to hang in the belfry of the old Frankford Church. It was dedicated on the 50th anniversary of the church in 2013.

The Frankford Prairie

Last year, I became aware of the Frankford Prairie and the old Frankford Church. Although it looks like it might be somewhere away from the big city, it is tucked in the middle of a neighborhood in far north Dallas, less than a mile from the busy Dallas North Tollway and about 10 minutes from my house.

I first visited the Frankford Prairie on my own on 4-6-18 and then again on 4-14-18 when the prairie and church were open to the public for a guided tour. The photos below are some of my better shots from both days. See the end of this post for a link to information about the next tour of the prairie and church.

According to the Frankford Preservation Foundation website, landscape architect Rosa Finsley came to the site in 2009 to discuss creating a native landscape around the church, which was undergoing restoration. She noticed native species in the fields around the church and eventually convinced the caretakers to stop mowing to see what would come up. They stopped mowing and were amazed at the number of native species that emerged from the soil. Although the land around the church was mowed, it is believed it was never plowed for farming because the limestone bedrock is too close to the surface. As a result, the native species were suppressed, but not destroyed.

This portion of the prairie is referred to as the East Prairie. It is to the east of the church. It appears to have the most diversity in native plants.

There are no bluebonnets here. The star of this the prairie in spring is wild blue hyacinths, Camassia scilloides. In the fall, prairie grasses, like big bluestem, and wildflowers, like gayfeather and goldenrod, will steal the show.

The wild hyacinths dominate the prairie in early April, but there are other wildflowers blooming too. The green clump in the middle is a large milkweed plant. I think it was either green milkweed or antelope horns.


Crow poison in the foreground.




Crow poison


Wild onion

Blue-eyed Grass

I am not sure what this plant is. It looked kind of like a giant blue-eyed grass. It appears to be in the iris family. 

Four Nerve Daisy



The West Prairie is to the south and west of the church. This section does not appear to have as much plant diversity as the East Prairie. A creek and Indian Springs run behind the tree row.


Frankford - the town that was.




There were several trees near the creek that had grown around tall galvanized fence posts.


A bridge crossing the creek and looking east toward the prairie. On this side of the creek is a flat piece of land known as the Wagon Yard. It is said to have been a popular camping spot for pioneers and Native Americans on the Shawnee Trail. I don't have a picture because it looked like a soccer field of mowed Bermuda grass.


Looking north. The natural spring is somewhere in the lower left of this picture.


Looking south, concrete and bricks have been used to stabilize the creek banks and preserve homeowner's lawns. I like the view from the other direction better.


To the south of the East Prairie is the Frankford Cemetery.

The cemetery is surrounded by roses, irises, and native plants like this golden groundsel.


Mr. Coit has a road named after him that runs though Dallas, Richardson, Plano, and McKinney.


The first known unmarked grave in the cemetery dates to 1862. The first marked grave is dated 1872. The cemetery as two open plots, according to its website.

A simple concrete headstone etched with "T. Brooks".

Wild hyacinths and other native plants are beginning to grow in the area closest to the church. We will take a look inside the church in my next post.

If you would like to see the prairie and church in person, a guided tour will be held this Sunday, 4-7-19. Click the link for more information.

Bluebonnet Season

It has been over a year and a half since I did this blogging thing. I think I forgot how, but I am remembering how much time it takes. This is a practice run because I have another post or two I want to get out this week. See the end of this post for a preview. After I get these posts out, I will probably go back into blog hibernation.

It is bluebonnet season in the garden and, this year, there are more than ever. Last year, I removed some of the pine muhly grasses that were filling the front garden. That left more open spaces for bluebonnet seeds to germinate.

The yellow flowers are golden goundsel. They are said to be a shade plant, so I planted them under a possumhaw holly where they get partial shade. Over the years, they started to reseed in other parts of the garden, most of them in full sun. The red leaves are 'Husker Red' penstemon. 

The view from the street, carefully disguising the sidewalk from view.


More golden goundsel. Pretty soon, the yellow flowers will create fluffy seed heads, similar to dandelions, that will float around the garden looking for a new spot to colonize.

Here is the preview of my next post(s) and it does not have anything to do with my garden. 

This is the old Frankford Church and the Frankford Prairie. You might never guess, but this is in the middle of a neighborhood in far north Dallas, less than a mile from the Dallas North Tollway and about 10 minutes from my house. This picture was taken on 4-14-18 when the wild blue hyacinths, Camassia scilloides, were in bloom. There is a tour this Sunday and I want to get the word out so others can visit and appreciate this hidden treasure. The tour will start inside the church, which is just as amazing as the prairie.