Hidden Treasure
Menard County’s Spanish Colonial jewel
It’s viewed by some historians as second only to the Alamo in its historical significance to Texas’ past. It’s closely allied to the site of a bloody massacre in 1758, when native Indians destroyed the nearby Mission San Sabá it had been designed to protect.
For more than 260 years, in fact, the Presidio de San Sabá has been attracting a diverse collection of visitors for a number of reasons.
Newcomers have been traveling from afar to the Central Texas site (Menard, seat of the county of the same name) since 1757, when more than 300 Spanish family members, priests, soldiers and prospectors came from San Antonio with their livestock, pets and worldly goods to establish a permanent Spanish presence on the San Sabá River.
This “hidden” Spanish Colonial jewel is now being discovered by more and more Texans as well as tourists from other states. International guests from 12 countries and counting have also found the site a compelling draw and a rich microcosm of the era of Spanish Colonial expansion in Texas. The Presidio has become the defining historical and cultural landmark for Central Texas, memorializing this period in stone.
Through the centuries following Spanish abandonment of the area, the Presidio’s ruins have provided shelter and safety for countless travelers, from California-bound Forty-niners to the region’s first settlers. Of note, in 1863 the Presidio was the birthplace of the first Anglo child born in Menard County. During the trail drives of the 1870s and ’80s, the walls of the Presidio were also used to hold cattle moving north up the Great Western Cattle Trail. The broad, well-worn path that countless cows and horses carved in those years as they waded across the San Saba can still be seen just across from the site.
In social media alone these days, the site attracts some 7,000 virtual visitors monthly via Facebook.
Red Steagall, cowboy icon and 2006 Poet Laureate of Texas, came to Menard in 2017 to feature the largest and most strategically important Spanish fort in Texas on his television show, Red Steagall Is Somewhere West of Wall Street. The segment aired on the RFD network and can still be viewed online. Similarly, archaeologist Monty Dobson, the creator, host and executive producer of the award-winning PBS television series America from the Ground Up, also filmed an episode on the Presidio. Dobson travels America to uncover hidden history from an archaeological perspective, making Menard’s Spanish jewel a perfect choice.
The historical link between Menard and Colonial Spain has been formalized with the recent establishment of a Sister City relationship between the Menard and Cortegana, Spain, the ancestral home of the Terreros family. (It was this distinguished family, whose ancestor sailed with Christopher Columbus aboard the Santa Maria in 1492, that yielded both the tragically martyred Franciscan leader of the failed 16th- century San Sabá Mission, and his cousin, who personally funded it.) Ray Rickard, a descendent of pioneer Menardians and a longtime member of the campaign to fully restore the Presidio, has led this international effort, which is supported locally. Rickard hopes that “this cordial gesture of goodwill across the centuries might serve as a platform for beneficial interaction between present-day citizens of our two cities.”
But the best way to experience the Presidio de San Sabá and its beautiful riverside location is to come in person. A group of hard-working, small- town volunteers assisting the county government, with support from the Texas Forts Trail and the Texas Historical Commission, have created a welcoming site with interpretive panels, walking trails around the ruins and a picnic shelter complete with butterfly garden.
Menard County’s “hidden” Spanish jewel awaits further discovery by all who seek to go off the beaten path to find a unique and historically significant experience on the banks of the beautiful San Saba.
Nos vemos! (We’ll be seeing y’all!)
