DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker's the source here, and I'm just the voice carryin' it forward. Now, before there was a town called Victoria, before this stretch of Texas had much of anything a map would bother to name, there was a mission. And not just any mission — Mission Nuestra Señora del Espíritu Santo de Zúñiga.
Say that three times fast on a dusty road and you'll understand why folks around here just nod and move on. It started at Garcitas Creek. That's where the Marqués de Aguayo and Father Fray Agustín Patrón of the Franciscan order first established it, back in 1722.
Two men, one mission, and a whole lot of Texas wilderness pressing in from every direction. But Garcitas Creek wasn't the end of the story — it was barely the beginning. Four years on, in 1726, the mission picked up and moved.
This time to Mission Valley, right here in what would become Victoria County. And here is where it put down roots for a while. The Franciscan missionaries worked this ground, maintaining the mission in the work of Christianizing and civilizing the Jaraname and other Indian peoples of the region.
That's the marker's own word for it — maintained. Day after day, season after season, in this valley. But even Mission Valley wasn't the final chapter.
In 1749 — after more than two decades here — the mission moved again, this time to what is now Goliad. Three homes in less than thirty years. Some things, it seems, take a while to find where they belong.
The State of Texas erected this marker in 1936 so the first two of those homes wouldn't be forgotten. And here on this road, that's exactly what we're doing — remembering.
What the marker says
First established at Garcitas Creek by the Marques de Aguayo and Father Fray Agustin Patron, O.F.M. in 1722. Moved to Mission Valley in 1726. Maintained here by the Franciscan missionaries for the Christanizing and civilizing of the Jaraname and other Indians. Finally moved to present Goliad in 1749. Erected by the State of Texas 1936