A community embroidery and stitching event where participants learn about the history of the Blackland Prairie while creating textile art.
Naturalists at the Ney returns to the Elisabet Ney Museum on Saturday, September 12, with a session titled Weaving History in the Blackland Prairie. It's a community embroidery and stitching event, so you'll be working with thread while you listen. The whole thing is part of a larger project that looks at the layered history of the Blackland Prairie—the way land, labor, and legacy tie together across generations.
The museum's grounds, its historic Formosa studio, and the native landscape around them provide the backdrop. The land in eastern Travis County was once the Freedom Colony of Littig, one of the oldest in Texas. It was bought after Emancipation by Jackson Morrow, who farmed 2,000 acres that stayed in his family for generations. Today, the Littig Preservation Alliance—founded by siblings Alaona Gonzales, Gena Gonzales, and Christopher Scott—works to restore the community. Conservationist Jon Beall bought 300 acres in 1977 and protects them in perpetuity through a conservation easement.
While you stitch, you'll learn about the Blackland Prairie, where regenerative agriculture is practiced and native plants sustain healthy ecosystems. The session asks how stories, landscapes, and traditional textile practices can be woven together to preserve both cultural and ecological heritage. It's a slow way of spending a Saturday morning: working with your hands while hearing the history of the ground beneath your feet.
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The session runs from 10 AM to 12 PM at the Elisabet Ney Museum, 304 E. 44th St, and it's free.
