DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker tells this one, and I'm just the voice carrying it down the road. Now, before there were highways, before there were settlers or soldiers or even Spaniards riding hard across the Texas brush, there was a trail. Older than memory, older than maps — just a worn groove in the earth that creatures followed, and then people, and then history itself.
That trail had a name, and the name was La Bahia Road. Pull up close, because this story runs deep. La Bahia Road began as an east-west Indian trail through southeastern Texas and Louisiana.
Before that, it may well have been an animal trail — the land itself showing living things the way through. Now, you've probably heard of El Camino Real, the San Antonio Road. Celebrated, mapped, written into every Texas schoolbook.
But La Bahia Road is probably older. Quieter in reputation, shorter in length, and yet — every bit as consequential. Possibly the first European to set foot on it was La Salle, exploring for France in this area during 1685 to 1687.
Then came the Spaniard Alonso De Leon, searching for those French intruders in 1689. Almost certainly, he traveled this same road. And so it went — the trail carrying one story after another, each heavier than the last.
From 1812 on, La Bahia Road and its westernmost town — La Bahia, the place now called Goliad — served agents of both war and peace. The Gutierrez-Magee Expedition, part of Mexico's revolt against Spain, moved along the road in 1812 and 1813. Then in 1821, the first Anglo-American colonists in Texas — the vanguard of the Old 300 — came down La Bahia into this very area.
Families. Futures. Hope traveling on a trail older than any of them knew.
And then 1836. The Texas Revolution. Troops of the Texan army used the road.
And near it — near Goliad — Colonel James Fannin and his four hundred men were massacred. Four hundred men. The road that had carried so many people toward something was marked, that year, by something that cannot be softened.
In the twentieth century, La Bahia found one final purpose: surveyors used its route to help map modern Texas highways. The oldest trail in the territory, quietly shaping the roads you drive today. Some roads earn their fame.
La Bahia Road just kept movin', whether anyone was watching or not.
What the marker says
One of the first overland routes used by European explorers of Texas, La Bahia Road was originally an east-west Indian trail in southeastern Texas and Louisiana. Earlier it may have been an animal trail. Although not as famous, or long, as El Camino Real (the San Antonio Road), La Bahia is probably older and it figured quite importantly in the movement of explorers, soldiers, traders, and settlers across Texas. Possibly the first European to set foot on the road was La Salle, who explored for France in this area during 1685-87. Almost certainly it was traveled by the Spaniard Alonso De Leon, who searched for the French intruders in 1689. From 1812 on, the trail and its westernmost town, La Bahia (now Goliad), served agents of both war and peace. The Gutierrez-Magee Expedition, part of Mexico's revolt against Spain, used the road in 1812-13. In 1821 the first Anglo-American colonists in Texas, the vanguard of the "Old 300", came down La Bahia into this area. During the 1836 Texas Revolution, the road found use by troops of the Texan army; Col. James Fannin and his 400 men were massacred near the road--in Goliad. In the 20th century, La Bahia's route helped surveyors map modern Texas highways.