DUANE
Duane's take
The way the marker tells it, here's what went down in Bandera County all those years ago. March of 1854 — and the town of Bandera was barely a year old — a column of travelers came rolling in. Not your typical Texas settlers, mind you.
These were Mormon pioneers, and the man leading them was Lyman Wight, a church elder with a story all his own. Back in 1846, Wight had separated from the followers of Brigham Young and struck out for Texas with a colony of two hundred and fifty souls. That's a lot of folks to move, and move they did.
They settled first in Austin, then pushed on to Fredericksburg, where they set up grist mills and saw mills — useful things, serious things, the kind of enterprise that says we intend to stay awhile. But they kept moving. Eventually they established what they called Mormon Camp, right there on the Medina River near Bandera.
And once they put down roots, they put down real roots. They built houses with vegetable gardens tucked in between them. They milled grain.
They worked the native wood into furniture — chairs, tables, whatever the craft called for — and sent those pieces east to sell. It was a self-contained little world carved out of the Texas Hill Country, humming along on industry and intention. Then came 1858.
Lyman Wight was gone by then, and without their leader, the colony dispersed. Just like that, the community that had traveled so far and worked so hard came apart. But here's the thing — not everyone left.
A remnant stayed on in Bandera, which means that little Mormon Camp on the Medina River left more of a mark on this county than a name on a map. Some of those settlers simply decided that after all that wandering, they were already home.
What the marker says
Entered the year-old town of Bandera in March, 1854. Leader was Lyman Wight, church elder who had separated from followers of Brigham Young and taken a colony of 250 to Texas in 1846. Settling first in Austin, then Fredericksburg (where they opened grist and saw mills) the group at last established "Mormon Camp" near Bandera on the Medina River. There they built houses with vegetable gardens in between; milled grain; made furniture from native wood to sell in East. In 1858, after Wight's death, the colony dispersed, although a remnant remained in Bandera. (1967)