El Camino Real / The Old San Antonio Road

Duane's take

The way I tell it, I'm going by what the official marker says, so let's walk this road together. El Camino Real. The Old San Antonio Road.

Right here in Madison County, near Normangee. And friend, this road has a story that'll make the miles feel short. First blazed in 1691, by Captain Don Domingo Teran de los Rios, the first provincial governor of Texas.

He led an expedition officially directed by Father Fray Damian Massanet, apostolic missionary and explorer in Texas. The general route ran northeast from the Rio Grande to the San Antonio River, then across the Guadalupe, the San Marcos, the Colorado, the Brazos, and the Trinity, all the way out to the missions in east Texas. Six rivers.

Count them. Six. Now that's a road that meant business.

And once somebody found it, well, others had a way of followin'. The Espinosa-Olivares-Aguirre expedition came through in 1709. Then St.

Denis in 1714. Ramon in 1716. Alarcon in 1718.

The Marquis of Aguayo in 1720. And then, a full century after that first blazing, Moses Austin himself rode this same ground in 1820. The Republic of Texas eventually looked at this road and decided it was solid enough to serve as a boundary line between a number of empresarial land grants.

That's the kind of permanence you don't get from a trail that hasn't earned its place. Normangee, right here, calls itself the home of the Old San Antonio Road Association. This marker was erected by the State of Texas in 1936.

Thirty-three years of Spanish expeditions, Moses Austin, a republic drawing borders, and a town proud enough to keep the memory. El Camino Real didn't just cross rivers. It crossed centuries.

What the marker says

First blazed in 1691 by Captain Don Domingo Teran de los Rios first provincial governor of Texas in an expedition officially directed by Father Fray Damian Massanet O-F-M apostolic missionary and explorer in Texas. The general route was northeast from the Rio Grande to the San Antonio River thence across the Guadalupe, San Marcos, Colorado, Brazos, and Trinity rivers to the missions in east Texas. Other expeditions taking the same route: Espinosa-Olivares-Aguirre in 1709 - - St. Denis in 1714 - - Ramon in 1716 - - Alarcon in 1718 - - Marquis of Aguayo in 1720 - - Moses Austin in 1820 - - The Republic of Texas officially made this road a boundary between a number of empresarial land grants. Normangee - Home of the Old San Antonio Road Association. Erected by the State of Texas 1936