…La Bahia Del Espiritu Santu…a Texas history lesson

“Mission Nuestra Senora del Espiritu Santo de Zuniga, generally called Mission Espiritu Santu was founded in 1722 near Matagorda Bay to serve the Karankawa Indians and their allies.   Because of treats from the French and Indians, Spain founded this mission and it’s auxillary fort, Presidio Nuestra Senora De Loretto De La Bahia. The mission was to convert the natives and the Presidio was to defend it’s territory.  The Presidio is currently 1/4 mile Southeast of the mission, here in Goliad.   Difficulties caused both to be moved to this present site in 1749. “  (The Presidio is totally a different blog.. where I can concentrate on the Massacre of Goliad in it’s entirety.)

“Mission Espiritu Santu was the first large cattle ranch in Texas, and was granted jurisdiction over all land between the Guadalupe and San Antonio Rivers as far north as Capote Hills near Gonzales. Espiritu Santu existed as a mission for 110 years, longer than any other Spanish colonial mission in Texas.   In 1758, about 180 persons resided at the mission and the fort, surrounded by the Indians who worked here, living in clay plastered and thatched huts.”

Yep, that’d be me..channeling history …and there’s Den, pretending he is Kix Brooks from the Brooks and Dunn music video  “He’s Got You”.  It was filmed at the mission, at the presidio and some  here in the courthouse square at Goliad…(I think Den forgot his guitar.)

“In 1886, a severe hurricane destroyed virtually the entire mission. Reconstruction efforts began in the 1930s with the Civilian Conservation Corps, giving Mission Espiritu Santo and nearby Presidio La Bahia new life.  The building  is a replica of the original, built in the 1930’s.  Some of the old parts still remain, as well as the old stone fence.  The area is quite important to Texas and Mexican history, being the cradle of the Texan rebellion against Mexico, and subsequently the Mexican rebellion against France.”

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“Today, Mission Espiritu Santo is part of 187-acre Goliad State Historical Park. Free self-guided tours of the mission's church, living quarters, and grounds are the focal point of the park.”  McGuyver and I have taken the tour before, but we had to walk through it all again.

FYI, if you are camping here at the State Park, you can come and go to the mission as you please.  Here are some photos inside the sanctuary..

Above is the beautiful sanctuary…..                            and above , right, is the baptismal room

 

…the choir loft ( The steps up to it were in a room to the left)…and…the dreaded confessional in right pic…(Dreaded only by those of us who would spend most of the day in it..like moi!!)

 

..Some very haunting statues…I was somewhat moved to genuflect at this point, doing the “sign of the cross”.. and I am not even Catholic. A very solemn moment for anyone visiting.

 

 

YOU KNOW THIS IS MY HAND, CHANNELING HISTORY THROUGH THE OLD STONE FENCE SURROUNDING THE PROPERTY…IT IS THE ORIGINAL, FROM 1758, AND I GOT GOOSE BUMPS JUST STANDING BESIDE IT.  IMAGINE HOW THIS PLACE WAS , 254 YEARS AGO… I sure hope our grandkids get to experience some of the great history stories our country has to tell…

 

 

 

We did our walk today up to the Presidio La Bahia, and I will blog about that next time…This is what I love about this park…you can “stroll into history” anywhere near here…

Our weather has been cloudy but warm.  I actually took my shower with the shower vent over my head wide open last night…Let me just say to the poor birds who happen to look down as they flew over, I am very sorry for scaring you to death..I hope I didn’t mark you for life. 

Our trip to the Laundromat was pretty interesting…You know it’s a bad sign when you walk in and there is water running all over the floor …Can you say “maintenance man??” I know McGyver would have fixed that “bad boy leaking machine”, if it were his laundromat! Pretty soon a few guys came in and mopped the floor..Then one of them pulled out a washer and looked behind it. (Have you ever looked behind a laundromat washing machine?..There are small villages, alive with dust balls and germs living behind there!!  ..not unlike mine at home )

Obviously no one was going to fix anything, all they wanted was the coins in the machines.. Sooo.. we chose 3 of the few washers that DIDN’T leak,  found a couple dryers who didn’t “eat quarters and not heat”, did a record breaking fold job, then got the He—outta there!!  SHEESH!!…When I die, I want to come back as the owner of a Laundromat…Just jam some machines in a broken down building , then sit back pretending it isn’t yours.. unless ..it’s time to empty the quarters out…WHAT A CASH COW!! …

More of your Goliad history lessons on our next blog.

“Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.”
                                                                              ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.