Mission Tejas State Historical Park

Nearly thirty years before the Alamo was built in San Antonio, the Spaniards built a mission in an Indian village of East Texas. It was a village of the Nabedache Caddo, people who the Spaniards called Tejas after hearing the word táysha?, which in the language of the Caddo means “friend”.

The Spaniards called the mission San Francisco de los Tejas, and it was founded on the 24th of May, 1690—the first Spanish mission in Texas. Back then Texas was a province of the Spanish colony of New Spain, and the Catholic Spaniards were eager to begin converting the Indians to Catholicism. Although at first things went well for the new mission, after epidemics of European diseases broke out the Indians were not too pleased with the Spaniards. They reasoned correctly that the sickness was the fault of the foreigners, and after only three years, the Spaniards were forced to leave due to the hostility of the Indians, and they burned the mission as they left.

However, they would not be so easily chased out by the Indians. Having a mission in that part of Texas had two advantages—not only did it spread their religion to the people, but also it showed their dominance of the land, reminding other countries such as France that Texas was part of Spain. So, in 1716 they returned and rebuilt the mission. However, this one was also abandoned, and although it was established a third time in 1721, it was moved to San Antonio in 1731 and renamed San Francisco de la Espada.

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Last month, we went on a short two-day vacation to East Texas. We visited three state parks. First we went to Caddoan Mounds State Historic Site in Cherokee County, Texas, and saw the three mounds that were made by the Caddo who once lived there. After that, we went down the road to Mission Tejas State Park, in Weches.

The state park was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in 1934, near the original mission that was established in 1690. The site for the park was chosen after a Spanish cannon was found at Weches, although since then they have found out that the original site was probably about a mile from the park. The CCC built a replica of the mission there, and although it is not entirely accurate, one can easily imagine the Spanish priests teaching the Indians there.

Besides the history of the park, the landscape is also very fascinating. The park is in the Piney Woods of Texas, in Houston County. There are pines everywhere, as well as maple and many other types of trees. There is a pond with turtles, and also several trails, one of which Daddy and I went on while we were there.

As we hiked through the pine forest, we went through deep ravines and steep places, and I could see channels down which water flows when it rains, ever flowing to lower ground. The landscape reminded me much of places I’ve seen in Arkansas.

The redbuds were in bloom when we were there, with bright purple blossoms, and although many of the deciduous trees were still bare, the forest remains green throughout the year because of the pine.

Mission Tejas is a very pretty park, and if you’re ever in that “neck of the woods,” you ought to go see it. It’s a great place to get out and enjoy God’s creation.

References:

1. Bowman, Bob. “Mission Tejas.” Online, April 1, 2006.
2. “Mission Tejas State Park.” Online, April 1, 2006.

This article was originally published in the Wilderness Explorers newsletter.