Goliad Mission and Fortress

This is the Mission Espiritu Santo at Goliad State Park.  A mission always consisted of a church, to convert the locals, a school and workshop to teach the converts European ways, an agricultural operation (vegetables, grains, cattle, etc.) to feed the missionaries and the converts, and always a fortress, to protect the missionaries and their converts from the local tribes that did not want them there.

This is the church.  Not exactly as it was in the 1700s, but restored to as it was in the 1800 once it had the white finish applied.

It had these huge front doors through which the priests and the converts only, were allowed to enter.  If you still thinking about it and had not converted there were two side doors that you had to use. 

This is one of the canons that the Spanish supplied to the missionaries to protect their fortress. 

This is one of the massive decorative doors for the main entrance to the church.  I include this picture for our cousin Wayne, who  has taken many pictures of many old doors in his travels.










 

The church  is a huge empty hall, as of course pews are a very recent addition in the overall history of churches.  You can see the very dominant pulpit for the priest to preach from.  And you can see the sun coming in through one of those side doors I mentioned. 

This is the tiny confessional.  I guess people didn't sin as much back then.  Before they felt it nessecary to add "Double Sided , No Waiting" confessionals. 

These are the stairs to the belfry. 

There is this strange carving over one of those side doors for the entry of the un-converted. 

This is the restored mission school and workshop.  This is what the exterior of the original church would
have looked like before the 1800 white facade was added. 

In this picture you can see the outline of the original smaller church that was built on the sight.  When the larger church on the right was built, the old church was turned into priests quarters and a granary. 

In the school/workshop there was an administrators office.  He would have been responsible for tracking the agricultural operation, as well as that of the mission itself.

In this picture you get a true picture of just how massive and thick all the walls in the mission are.

Everywhere you look you can see the outline of the original buildings and fortress walls.  There was a convent, a forge, gardens compounds and Indians and converts quarters all along the inside of the walls and of course the walls at that time were all about 10 feet high. The entire fortress enclosed about 800 X 800 ft.  with Bastions on each corner.







This is the San Antonio River.  The same river as the Alamo.  It's just further down river.  If you want to see authentic Texas history this is much better than the Alamo.  And it's not full of people hawking tourist crap.  We didn't take the time to visit the Presidio, which I intend to go back and see. 

So now we are "Home" in McAllen, and getting settled in.  We met so many people yesterday we had to start making list of names, our memories not being what they used to be.  Now we are making lists of things we have to get for out lot.  I will take pictures of our lot and nice big patio today. 

I Hate Driving Through Houston.

If there was some way around Houston without it taking an extra day, I certainly would take it.

I hate the stacks of highways going every which way, it's a nightmare, to be endured. 

But I did catch a shot of this delightful looking Seafood Restaurant, which might be worth coming back for.

We drove through Houston, to Goliad State Park.
There is an old mission and fortress here, that we will tour tomorrow. 

The campsites are very strange here, with the RVs and vehicles all lined up like in a parking lot, with your picnic shelter, picnic table, fire pit etc. all behind your parking spots.  It was a pleasant evening.  Dan cooked us some Steaks.

After dinner I was looking at my wine glass and I thought it looked askew.  Sure enough the darn thing must have melted in the hot dish water or something.  You just can't get good quality plastic anymore.   I think Dan gave this one to me to make me think I'd had enough wine. 

So we will tour this park tomorrow, then it's on to McAllen.

Back To Texas

We left our campsite this morning.  Over the Mississippi.  And on to Village Creek State Park, just outside Beaumont, Texas. 

Of course upon arrival, Sea-enna  is always the first to check out the her new '"Yard". 

Very nice campground.  But we are on the move again tomorrow. 

Our Last Day in Louisiana

We didn't do much sight seeing today as another place I wanted to see was also closed for renovations.   So we just took Sea-enna for a nice long walk. 

After seeing this picture and notice about the snakes in Louisiana, we certainly kept Sea-enna on a short leash.

We started our walk on the Fishing Boardwalk.

Then we decided to take the Swamp Trail.  Because it was also a Boardwalk I wasn't too concerned about the snakes. 

This trail went on and on. 

And on and on.

And on and on. 

Most of the Vegetation that is posted on the signs is dormant so it wasn't very interesting.

I guess later in the year when all the Vegetation is lush and full, it would be much more interesting. 

And so on we went.  On and on. 

And on and on. 

As you can see some of the vegetation is starting to green up. 

( It's amazing what you will find interesting after a long and boring walk.)

This long walk finally came out by the boat launch and the parks small marina. 

Then later we had a nice campfire and a beautiful sunset on the swamp.

A Short Trip Across The Lake To A Nice Park

We have been having some really nice weather the last few days and I think spring has come to Louisiana as some of the trees that were looking dead have started to leaf out.  So off we go to the other side of Lake Pontchartrain. 

As we drove through town on our way to the Causeway, I managed to snap a picture of one of those "Shotgun Houses", that used to dominate the 9th ward.  They are narrow little houses that are very long reaching all the way back to the lane.  The front and back doors are aligned, so they could get a breeze through the house in the hot Louisiana summers.  They called them shotgun houses because they used to say you could shoot in the front door and out the back and not hit anything. 

As we got onto the Causeway New Orleans is fading into the background. 

And you can't even see the other side. 

They have markers every mile as you cross and seven turnarounds. 

Finally the other side comes into view. 

At the 24 mile marker we finally approach the end of the Causeway.  

This side of the Lake seems much more jungle like.  Very different. 

We have a very nice campsite. 

 And we even had a campfire tonight.  We will go out and do some sight seeing tomorrow. 

We Didn't See Much of Anything Today.

This morning I looked up the information for Fort Pike National Historic Site.  It was about 35 miles away, but we decided to go and tour the place. 

You can always tell you are about to go over a waterway that takes sea going vessels, because the bridges are so high; 

We arrived to find the place totally enclosed with frost fencing and "Closed"signs all over the place. 

It turns out it was repaired after Katrina and re-opened but was closed again after damage from Huricane Gustav.  It has been closed for over 2 years since it was last damaged and no one bothered to update their internet sites.

With Dan in the truck as lookout, I managed to sneek through an open gate and snap this picture but couldn't get any closer.  Needless to say I was very angry, so when we got back to the trailer I sent a couple of very strongly worded emails to two US government departments. 
Unfortunately it wasn't very satisfying. 

Anyway I took some pictures of the development
out on that penninsula.  It's just like what we saw on Galveston Island. 

Lots more homes on stilts. 

Notice the bridge?  It looks like it is sideways.  Well it is, it's a swing bridge.  So far since arriving on Friday, we have been held up in traffic, from a car accident on the freeway  (that took forever), two ferries, a lift bridge letting three boats through and now a swing bridge letting one boat through. 
The traffic in this city is a nightmare, because it's full of so many waterways. 

And these gorgeous homes are all built on private canals so they can park the huge boats right behind their houses.  Even if I could afford those houses and those boats I still wouldn't live in this city.   It's a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there.