On this Site First Known as Perry's Point

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I wouldn't change a word. Now, before this stretch of Chambers County had much of a name worth arguing over, folks called it Perry's Point. Simple enough.

But in 1830, General Manuel Mier y Teran had bigger ideas for this place — and bigger problems he was trying to solve. He established a fort right here, and the mission was nothing subtle about it: halt Anglo-American colonization in its tracks. To underline the point, he reached all the way back to the Aztec language and named the place Anahuac — the Aztec name of Mexico City, which was at that time the capital of Texas.

So this quiet piece of ground on the Texas coast was carrying a name that carried the whole weight of Mexican authority. Now, a fort built to keep settlers in line has a way of stirring up the very trouble it was meant to prevent. When settlers from Austin's colony were imprisoned here, that was the match.

The first open rebellion against Mexican rule didn't start in some grand city square — it started right here, at this fort, in 1832. Perry's Point. Anahuac.

Whatever you call it, this is the ground where the patience ran out. Erected by the State of Texas, 1936.

What the marker says

On this site first known as Perry's Point, a fort, established in 1830 by General Manuel Mier y Teran for the purpose of halting Anglo-American colonization was named Anahuac, the Aztec name of Mexico City, then the capital of Texas. The imprisonment here of settlers in Austin's colony brought the first open rebellion to Mexican rule in 1832. Erected by the State of Texas 1936