According to Genesis in the Torah, east of Eden is where the Lord placed cherubim and a flaming, flashing sword to keep the banished Adam and Eve from returning to the Garden of Eden after they defiantly ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and bad. Not evil. Evil is a Christian interpretation.
Later in the text East of Eden also becomes the Land of Nod where Cain is exiled after slaying his brother Abel. And, in recent times, East of Eden is the name of several movies and a novel Penguin concluded is a 20th century classic. Well, Oprah liked it.
But, in Texas at least, Eden is west of Brady on US Highway 87, and well south of Paint Rock on US 83. Actually, it’s exactly west of a smaller town called Melvin, which sports a trophy whitetail (deer) hunting ranch. So, Texana-wise, Melvin is east of Eden. Somehow that’s been left out of the other accounts.
Not to mention there’s also a garden in Eden, Texas, probably several, including the plots at the Eden Detention Center. The center is a for-profit federal prison whose inmates constitute about half the 2,766 population of Eden, according to the 2010 census. And Eden is only a few miles northeast of the exact center of Texas.
No cherubim or flaming swords, though, off to the east. Certainly not in Melvin. At least not the last time Mrs. Charm and I were there, way back in ’93. Could a changed, though.
THE TEXAS SCRIBBLER 