Like an artist's pallette, The Woodlands offers a beautiful montage of living at its best. Magnificent homes, winding nature trails, parks, shops and places of worship are carefully arranged in this lively and colorful panorama. In addition to being a scenic masterpiece, the native forests nurture higher values than those that are purely tangible. It's the intangibles like human services, religious diversity, community spirit, healthcare and lifelong learning that are the cornerstones of community building. Those have been the guiding principles of The Woodlands since its founding nearly a half-century ago.