Risien is pronounced like "reason". So, let's 'Risien' together. Should you go out of your way to…read morevisit this park? Don't quote me on this, but the following famous people quotes seem reasonable when my review points follow them:
"The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once." - Albert Einstein
--- There's not much to do here. So, you get that done pretty fast. Unless you truly BBQ, then that takes time. It's a small park for camping. There is a small concrete for dancing or games (like trying to break pecan shells with your bare feet).---
"A man always has two reasons for doing anything: a good reason and the real reason." - J. P. Morgan
--- The good reason for coming to this park: BBQ with the family. The real reason: Save money to drink more beer without many critics around.---
"Ours not to reason why, ours but to do and die." - Alfred Lord Tennyson
--- Actually, the mosquitos here have that motto, too. In June, they were a nuisance, even with Deet spray repellent on me.---
"There is nothing higher than reason." - Immanuel Kant
--- There are no hills or climbing in the park, other than the banks of the river. A walkway connects this park to a nature trail next door. Walkway is a concrete sidewalk about 5' wide, so that lawnmowers and golf carts can use it for maintaining the park.---
"Things happen for a Risien" - (don't know why author is unknown)
--- An English cabinet carpenter and amateur horticulturist, named Edmond Risien, came to San Saba in the early 1870's from the Northeast. He found a large old pecan tree, liked the pecans, and thereafter, obsessed over pecans and how to grow good ones consistently. His experimentation led to a successful business and fame.---
The Rest of his Story, which I will call "An Englishman went up a pecan tree but planted an orchard", and why there is a park in his name follows some relevant movie quotes from "The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain".
Morgan the Goat: (to recognize the hill as a mountain) "If Ffynnon Garw has to be a thousand feet, then I say let it be a thousand feet! Add 20 feet, that's all we need, a 20-foot tump and we have our mountain!"
Jones the JP: "I'm not sure how legal that is..."
Rev. Robert Jones: "Yes, or ethical..."
Morgan the Goat: "Legal? Ethical? Wh-- how legal was it to say that a thousand feet is a mountain and 984 isn't, uh? Uh? Do we call a short man a boy, or a small dog a cat? No! This is a mountain, our mountain, and if it needs to be a thousand feet, then by God let's make it a thousand feet!"
---- Through trial and error over many years he developed many varieties, including Onliwon, San Saba Improved and Western Schley. Mr. Risien was such an important influence in building the community and giving San Saba some sort of identity and to be on the map. They had to have a park in his name. The preferred area, Mill Pond Park, was already created. The oak he made famous is still alive (but no good pecans anymore) on private property.---
Grandfather: "All this fuss over what? Is it a hill, is it a mountain? Perhaps it wouldn't matter anywhere else, but this is Wales! The Egyptians built pyramids, the Greeks built temples, but we did none of that, because we had mountains. Yes, the Welsh were created by mountains: where the mountain starts, there starts Wales. If this isn't a mountain - well, if this isn't a mountain, then Anson might just as well redraw the border and put us all in England, God forbid."
---From http://www.pecanjam.com/about/san-saba-pecan-industry/ : Risien presented his improved pecans to Queen Victoria; and Alfred, Lord Tennyson in England; and took some of his most amazing pecan clusters to the Chicago World's Fair and impressed the crowd - among whom was C W Post, the cereal magnate who reportedly named his Grape Nuts cereal after those amazing grape-like pecans clusters. By his 87th birthday, Mr. Risien had thousands of his improved pecan trees growing worldwide. Thus San Saba came to be known as the "Pecan Capital of the World."---
Betty: "You won't be back. This isn't a place that people like you come back to."
Anson: "Well, I'll try, I'll, I'll really try..."
Betty: "I'll try! Is that the best you can do?"
----If you go to San Saba, there is a tendency to say "Been there. Done that", and not return. The peaceful Risien Park is small and has a slow-moving creek/river, and lots of shade trees. There is not much else. But if you REALLY like special pecans, you might return.---
