Walking Tales Returns to Oakwood October 17th

Each fall, Oakwood Cemetery becomes one of the best places in Waco to hear a good story. This October, Oakwood Cemetery & Arboretum will again welcome the Heart of Texas Storytelling Guild for Walking Tales on Saturday, October 17, 2026, one of our favorite traditions and one of the most engaging ways to experience Waco history where so much of it rests. The event will be held from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on the grounds of Oakwood Cemetery.

For those who have never attended, Walking Tales is not a lecture, and it is certainly not a test, so there is no need to bring a No. 2 pencil or pretend you remember everything from Texas history class. Visitors walk through the cemetery and encounter storytellers stationed throughout the grounds, each bringing to life some of Waco’s most famous, infamous, colorful, complicated, and remarkable characters. And goodness knows, Waco has never lacked for characters.

Through the years, Walking Tales has introduced visitors to pioneers, business leaders, civic builders, doctors, educators, soldiers, reformers, eccentrics, and a few people who probably would have made fine dinner guests—provided you did not let them sit too close to the silver.

That is part of what makes Oakwood so special. The stories here are human stories—stories of ambition, service, invention, conflict, courage, scandal, faith, failure, generosity, reinvention, and the occasional spectacularly poor decision. In other words, real history. The kind with dirt on its boots.

Walking Tales gives those stories back to the community in a way that is lively, personal, and memorable. A name carved in stone becomes a life remembered. A quiet section of the cemetery becomes a place where Waco’s past feels close enough to recognize.

This year, we are especially pleased to add a new feature that connects Walking Tales to Oakwood’s growing identity as an arboretum. Members of the Oakwood Cemetery Arboretum Board, with sponsorship from the Texas A&M Forest Service, will be handing out tree seedlings during the event to encourage more tree planting throughout Central Texas.

The addition feels especially fitting. Walking Tales reminds us that the people who came before us helped shape the community we inherited, while the seedling giveaway reminds us that we have a hand in shaping what comes next. One looks backward with gratitude; the other looks forward with hope. At Oakwood, those two directions have a habit of meeting under the trees. We hope families, history lovers, tree lovers, longtime Wacoans, new neighbors, and anyone who simply enjoys a good story will join us. Come walk the grounds. Meet the characters. Learn something you did not know. Pick up a seedling. Take a little Oakwood spirit home with you. This October, Oakwood has stories to tell.