Bosque Museum
Since 1954, the award-winning Bosque Museum has been a “must see” ever-evolving cultural history location housing artifacts and resources representing every stage of the county’s historic and prehistoric past. Since 2020, the…
In the first known chronicle of American Indian life in Texas by outside sources, the shipwrecked survivors of Spanish explorer Cabeza de Vaca's party report that they were confronted with a rhythmic entreaty of shouts, claps, and pebble-filled gourd rattling by indigenous peoples, perhaps members of who we now call the Karankawas or one of the many other hunter-gatherer groups of the Coahuiltecan region.
This took place in 1535, a relatively recent date for a record of indigenous populations, particularly considering that the earliest evidence we have on hand so far of an occupied Texas rolls us back about another 20,000 or more years. The European settlers and pioneers already residing in Texas during its transformation to statehood may have considered themselves the first true Texans in name but the territory surrounding them had already been populated for millennia. Archeologists continue to search for and study material clues of these first Texans such as discarded stone tools, cookfire remnants, traces of long-gone houses, plant and animal food remains, and artwork painted or incised on rock shelter walls. In the absence of written records, these material clues are all that remain to shed light on the prehistory of the peoples occupying Texas territory before the 16th century. More recent history, however, is more thorough thanks to the descendants of Native tribes like the Kiowa, Comanche, Apache, Alabama-Coushatta, Caddo, and Tigua, who can recall their heritage in oral histories and traditions. Traditions that are enriched by the journals of de Vaca and other explorers, as well as ethnographers and anthropologists. Emerging archeological evidence, in fact, places the earliest known human inhabitants in North America right here in Texas. Depending on how we look at it, the term "Native Texan" takes on a whole new meaning.
Since 1954, the award-winning Bosque Museum has been a “must see” ever-evolving cultural history location housing artifacts and resources representing every stage of the county’s historic and prehistoric past. Since 2020, the…
This lesser-known mission chain along the legendary El Camino Real de los Tejas includes three former mission sites (San Francisco Xavier de Horcasitas, San Ildefonso, and Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria), Apache…
TWIN MANIFESTATIONS The symbol of the Alabama-Coushatta tribes is comprised, in part, of twin water-fowls, reflecting the coming together of the two tribes as one. Joining them together at the center is…
More than 1,200 years ago, a group of Caddo Indians known as the Hasinai built a village and ceremonial center 26 miles west of present-day Nacogdoches. The site was the southwestern-most ceremonial…
NUESTRA SENORA DE LOS DOLORES DE LOS AIS MISSION Despite its long name, Mission Dolores survived a mere two years, victim of Spanish and French hostilities in the region during the first…
Explorer accounts from the early 1700s refer to a Native American woman named Angelina who served as guide and translator for both the French and Spanish. Angelina is the namesake of the…
RECOVERING HISTORY FROM THE GROUND UP The military history of Fort Chadbourne, a north central Texas frontier post established in 1852, may have ended after a brief sixteen years, but the Fort’s…
Fort Concho, established in 1867 on the banks of the Concho River, served as regimental headquarters for some of the most recognized frontier units in Texas history, including the 10th Cavalry, better…
A RUIN TWICE OVER Presidio San Saba, once known as Presidio San Luis de las Amarillas, a fortress constructed in 1757 and designed to protect Spanish interests in the region, including nearby…
NOT JUST A CHURCH BUT A MISSION Four of the five surviving Spanish colonial missions in and around San Antonio comprise the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park. With the National Park…
MISSION SAN ANTONIO DE VALERO Spain’s interest in the New World, including the territory that would one day become Texas, included colonization and expansion of Spanish rule, important instruments in achieving political…
Named after the heritage-minded former state lieutenant governor Bob Bullock, this museum's four-story rotunda centers on a 40-foot-diameter terrazzo floor of iconic images and a Texas Ranger’s badge embedded in the surface…
DISCOVERING YOUR CULTURAL HERITAGE IN TEXAS Want to discover a little bit more about your cultural heritage in Texas than perhaps you already know? Visit the Institute of Texan Culture in San…
Opened in 1926, the Witte Museum interprets the history, culture and natural science of the region. Elaborate dioramas and exhibits explore native species, dinosaur life and the canyon rock art of prehistoric…
RESURRECTION IN STONE Mission Espiritu Santo, or Nuestra Senora del Espiritu Santo de Zuñiga Mission (should you wish to use its full name), was considered one of the most successful missions in…
The City of Victoria and El Camino Real de los Tejas National Historic Trail Association installed interpretive signage at the Mission Nuestra Senora del Espiritu Santo de Zuniga, Tonkawa Bank Site (pictured)…
BUCKING BRONCS THROUGH THE AGES The American West is no less a melting pot today than it was a hundred years ago and that holds true for the Texas frontier as well…
Nocona was built up both as a result of the droving teams that passed through on the nearby Chisholm Trail and the expansion of the railroad. It’s probably most famous for being…
Casa Ortiz, located on the Mission Trail in Socorro, exemplifies the simple structures of locally available materials built on the Spanish Colonial frontier. Reputedly constructed in the late 1700s with adobe walls…
Native American history awaits at the University of Texas at El Paso’s Centennial Museum. Built during the 1936 Texas Centennial, the museum replicates the Asian architecture of Bhutan. The Museum’s permanent exhibits…
A FRONTIER DEFENSE The frontier post of Fort Davis, established in 1854 and serving the Texas frontier until 1891, provided a strategic factor in the defense system of the American Southwest. The…
URBAN WILDERNESS Despite a population of more than half a million people, El Paso harbors quiet, empty solitude just beyond its own back door. The city lies at the base of the…
Established by Congress in 1972, Guadalupe Mountains National Park lies along the northern edge of the state’s “boot heel”, sharing a border with New Mexico. The park’s rugged beauty, comprised of a…
HIDDEN FACES, HOLLOW ROCKS A unique geology and a relative abundance of water made the Hueco Tanks site a refuge for nature and humans for over ten thousand years. Formed thirty four…
A VILLAGE AMONG THE WETLANDS One afternoon in the late 1970s, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers employees were working on the construction of flood control dams in El Paso’s Upper Valley when…
RESPONDING TO A RIVER Mission Socorro, originally given the name Misión de Nuestra Señora de la Limpia Concepción de los Piros de Socorro by Governor Diego de Vargas in 1691, was established…
PEOPLE OF THE SUN The tribal community known as “Tigua”, originally from a pueblo community in present-day New Mexico, fled south from Apache aggression in the 1670s only to suffer an assault…
A FRANCISCAN MISSION The Spanish Colonial mission, known formally as La Misión de Corpus Christi de la Ysleta del Sur, has been serving the region’s Catholics since its establishment in 1680. The…
The descendants of escaped slaves and Florida's Seminole Indians, the Black Seminole Indian Scouts were known as unparalleled trackers and fearless combatants. The U.S. Army organized the scout unit in 1870, and…
The well-preserved Fort Clark served as the post for numerous Buffalo Soldier infantry and cavalry units. In particular, the Black Seminole Indian Scouts were stationed here and served alongside Buffalo Soldiers of…
Spanning 82 acres in the Pecos River valley, Fort Lancaster State Historic Site, a Texas Historical Commission property, commemorates the vestiges of one of several posts established in the 1850s that played…
At first inception, the post known as Fort Stockton served as a camp, helping to establish a military presence in 1858 in the region. The location was a key stopover along the…
The well-preserved Fort Clark served as the post for numerous Buffalo Soldier infantry and cavalry units. In particular, the Black Seminole Indian Scouts were stationed here and served alongside Buffalo Soldiers of…
Opened in 1980, Seminole Canyon State Park and Historic Site in Val Verde County, west of Comstock, contains 2172.5 acres. Early peoples first visited this area 12,000 years ago, a time when…
At the Alibates Flint Quarries located in the Texas Panhandle, people quarried flint for toolmaking as early as 12,000 years ago. The stone, highly valued by early hunters occupying a pre-statehood Texas…
A HERITAGE COMPLEX At first glance, heritage travelers may miss the robust nature of the Armstrong County Museum. Preserving Armstrong County and Texas Panhandle history is only one of the museum’s many…
The Comancheros were the traders who came primarily from New Mexico to do business with various Native American tribes, principally Comanche, Kiowa, and Cheyenne, who were the known occupants of the Caprock…
Located off-the-beaten-path near the town of Quanah, Copper Breaks State Park is an invaluable natural geologic time capsule. The park takes its name from the gray-green streaks of raw copper that band…
SPANNING THE AGES Like all counties in Texas, Hutchinson County takes pride in its robust history. And Hutchinson has a big story to tell, one that spans the ages. Fortunately, the entire…
Housed in a replica Pueblo Indian kiva (underground ceremonial chamber), the Kwahadi Kiva Indian Museum features fine art and exhibits of the crafts and cultures of the Pueblo and Plains Indian people…
AN ANCIENT WATERING HOLE Lubbock Lake National Historic Landmark is a unique archaeological site— the only one in North America that preserves a complete record of nearly 12,000 years of human history…
Featuring a 1930s Art Deco building (later enlarged), the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum at West Texas A&M University is the region’s largest history museum — the biggest in the entire state, in fact…
MUSEUM CRAWL This extensive museum, housed along with the Olton Area Library in a repurposed hardware and lumber store, focuses on the history of Olton and Lamb County with many buildings full…
El Camino Real De Los Tejas: The King’s Highway
El Camino Real de los Tejas, or Texas' Royal Highway, served the territory once dominated by colonial Spain, stretching from…
More Than Mound Builders
The Caddo Indians dominated much of the eastern region of Texas for more than 500 years (A.D. 800-1300).
Quanah Parker Trail: Follow the Arrows into History
The Comanche Indians once dominated vast areas of North America—and yet, forced onto reservations, they left little record of their…