Historic Fort Davis

The Davis Mountains were named for Jefferson Davis. Before the Civil War, when people were headed out west for "fortune and glory" (think California Gold Rush) and the often chosen route led them from San Antonio to El. Paso. Since it was such a popular route, the US established forts along the trail to aid in protection from the Indians for her citizens. In the Davis mountains, there is a beautiful river called Limpia that offered travelers a welcome reprieve from their travels. It's a natural place to establish a fort. Thus Fort Davis was born.

Today, Limpia river is just a dry river bed. However, it is still tree lined with huge, 100 year old trees that are very drought tolerant. With very little imagination, you can see the river winding through the mountains.

What is now known as the historic Fort Davis, is part of the national parks system and is partially restored. The restoration process is still ongoing at the fort. Every year, the kids enjoy going to visit and seeing old favorites and discovering what has been completed during the year.

This year, we took advantage of their buy a ticket and it's good for 7 days. Unfortunately, C caught Hand, Foot, and Mouth from N. So, the day she didn't feel well and slept all day, I took the rest of the group to the Fort and Craig stayed with C and studied. The bug is about a 24 to 48 hour bug and she was feeling better in a few days, so we took her back too. N had so much fun dragging C and Dad around the fort showing and telling them about all the things he visited several days before.

One "new" feature we've never encountered at the fort before is some of the animals were out of their enclosures and were wandering the grounds. The horses weren't close enough to visit with. However, this mama goat did stop for a visit with the kids.

The National Parks also have a Jr Ranger program where children can search for items while on their visit and can solve riddles and answer questions about their favorite exhibit and other specific to the park questions. For example, one question was "Why were you thrown into jail?" One of mine answered that they were out after curfew. Another one stole some food. Fun answers!!!

At the end of the visit, the kids present their completed booklets to the park ranger and are given their choice of a pin or patch. We have several of each. The Ranger at Fort Davis was a very cool one - she also "swore-in" the kids as Jr. Rangers and then shook each ones hand.

Comments

Texas History Tour - Texas Independence - Washington on the Brazos

Because of all the construction on I35, it was recommended to us to travel across Central TX and use I45 instead. So, on our trip down to San Antonio, we went north of College Station. We decided on the way home, to go south of BCS and stop at one last history spot - Washington on the Brazos, where Texas Independence was declared. (It's was also a nice distance from Goliad and a great stopping point for lunch) The original monument next to Independence Hall This state historic site also incorporates the etched windows. Probably because of all the trees, these etched windows are easier to see. We walked down the side streets of town and went down to the Brazos River. There were lots of pretty flowers and some wild grapes along the trail. Our first glimpse of the Brazos River Here's the area where traders along the river would land and bring their cargo/passengers. Pecan tree that was here during the Texas Revolution We enjoyed the break from ridi...

Texas History Tour - Spanish influence - Mission San Jose y San Miguel de Aguayo

After a late lunch, we decided to visit the middle mission - San Jose y San Miguel de Aguayo . It was the largest mission and the one that is most well preserved, being designed a work area for the WPA in the 1930's. They have done a wonderful job of recreating ruins and painting original colors. There were also some architecture dig sites this summer. Unfortunately, being a Sunday, we didn't get to meet any of the student workers. We did however, get to visit with the park rangers, who had just recently returned to work and the park store was open as well. Mission San Jose was founded in 1720 along the San Antonio River. It came to be the largest mission on the area with roughly 300 Indians living on the grounds. "it's a giant turtle with a hole in the back" It's really an outdoor oven. It's a very pretty mission setting. We also saw several wells and cisterns and lots of arches, angles, and other geometric shapes. Love the c...

Texas History Tour - Spanish influence - Mission Nuestra Senora del Espiritu Santo de Zuniga

On the grounds of Goliad State Park is Mission Nuestra Senora del Espiritu Santo de Zuniga o. For this visit and our visit to Presidio la Bahia, we deviated from normal Texas afternoon behavior and visited both - in the heat! Why? Because mosquitoes aren't as numerous in the heat of the afternoon! Mission Espiritu Santo was where the CCC applied all they learned at the visitors center across the road. Most of the buildings have been restored/reconstructed and several are used as museums. The brickwork that we saw from the visitors center and many samples of the colors they re-created. Spanish culture was very vibrant! We also saw many examples of geometric shapes - shaped windows, rolled arches, built-in wall basins with rounded fronts. "Pirates lived here!" ~ R This mission had many textile operations here - weaving, dying, basket making.... Looks like the window seat we saw at the visitors center. This appears to be ruins of a building....

Kerr Christian Homeschool Academy

Search This Blog