Goliad offers a lesson in Texas history Getting there
GOLIAD — I never took seventh-grade Texas history.
I didn’t live in Texas that year, so my knowledge was limited to what I picked up here and there, until, as a history major at what was then Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos, I was required to take a Texas history class. My professor, Frank de la Teja, assigned a genealogy project. I have been working on my family tree ever since.
I recently learned my fourth great-grandfather on my mother’s side came to Texas from Missouri, traveling through Galveston in 1839. He landed in Goliad in 1840 and built a house that still is standing. Since documentation is a major part of genealogy, and I needed a paper from the courthouse in Goliad, about 180 miles southwest of Houston, my mom and I packed up and hit the road. We wanted to find the house, which is occupied, but no longer by my family, and maybe see the family cemetery on the land.
Looking for things to do in Goliad, I discovered the Presidio la Bahía — a National Historic Landmark — had quarters for rent. I jumped at the opportunity: Where else can you stay in a Spanish fort built in 1749, in the quarters where Mexican officers agonized, many historians believe, about Gen. Antonio López de Santa Anna’s order to execute Col. James W. Fannin and about 340 of his men during the Texas Revolution in 1836? The history major in me was geeking out.
Today the complex includes the fort, the Our Lady of Loreto Chapel, a museum with artifacts recovered from the mission during its restoration, cannons and the quarters.
Visitors can watch a short film inside the presidio that explains the history of the presidio and details the events of the Goliad Massacre.
A monument where Fannin and his troops were buried stands behind the presidio.
About a quarter-mile from the presidio, across the San Antonio River, is the Mission Espíritu Santo, which was established in 1722. This mission also is open for tours, and it sits inside the Goliad State Park and Historic Site. Experiencing history
The Diocese of Victoria owns the presidio today, and, at one time, priests assigned to the fort’s chapel lived in the quarters. The chapel itself is where the first Declaration of Texas Independence was signed on Dec. 20, 1835. It’s also where Fannin and his men were kept before they were executed.
The chapel, established in 1779, still is in use today; its bells chime daily and Mass takes place at 5 p.m. Sunday.
I called the presidio to book the quarters more than a month in advance, which is advised. Only one room is available, though the quarters are like a little apartment.
The quarters themselves consist of a common room with a table and couch, a small bedroom with two twins, a full kitchen, a bathroom and a room with a queen-size bed — but no TV or WiFi. After the presidio closes for the day, guests can walk out of the back door off the common room and into the courtyard in front of the chapel, and through the doors into the courtyard of the fort. They have access to the entire exterior of the fort.
The quarters are stone. Bricks strategically placed in front of holes in the stone must be what I can only assume is an attempt keep out critters, despite the fact the wooden doors have cracks large enough to see daylight through and the chimney would allow easy access.
As I flipped through the pages of the guest book in the common room, I noticed three types of guests: history buffs, paranormal investigators and a few descendants of Texas revolutionaries. Many people commented on the serenity of the place; others shared what they believed were ghost encounters.
I’m not going to lie, reading the ghost stories in that log was a mistake. All night, I heard things, and had to repeatedly tell myself, “It’s old; it’s the pipes knocking; it’s road noise. Or it’s a flying bug.”
Despite my nervousness, I would not have chosen to stay anywhere else.
Goliad, the town, is pretty and green. Its rolling hills, trees and flower patches filled with an abundance of butterflies reminded me of the Hill Country. I saw a deer eating its lunch, and more cows than people.
As in many smaller Texas towns, the courthouse square is where most of the action takes place. Goliad’s includes restaurants, boutiques, antiques shops and a pool hall.
We spent a few hours in the courthouse digging through indexes of probate records and deeds, ate fried chicken breast at the Hanging Tree Restaurant and talked with the librarian at the J.A. White Family Goliad Center for Texas History in the Goliad County Library, all on the square.
My mother and I drove around a while looking for my great-great-great-greatgrandfather’s home, but we finally found it. The gate was padlocked, and, as it was a holiday weekend, we thought maybe the family was out of town, so we didn’t approach.
We’ll save that adventure for another visit to Goliad.
erin.graham@chron.com Goliad is about 180 miles from Houston on U.S. 59. Head south toward Victoria and take the Laredo/Goliad exit. The population is just less than 2,000, and Victoria is about 25 miles away.