Passport to Texas

Current residents of Lake Texana.

NOTE: Lake Texana State Park – Is now under the management of the Lavaca-Navidad River Authority. The park is open under the new name, Texana Park and Campground.

The Forgotten City Beneath a Lake Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

In 1832, Dr. Francis F. Wells—a member of Stephen F. Austin’s Old 300—founded a town along a bend of the Navidad River, which eventually became known as Texana.

This was the western most settlement of Austin.

Cindy Baker served as an interpretive ranger at the former Lake Texana State Park. Texana was a thriving community; it was in a good location, had abundant natural resources, and a shallow water port. It could have been great if not for short-sighted decisions by its founding father.

Two brothers showed up and offered for 100-thousand dollars to buy the town. Mr. Wells said, ‘No. We want 200-thousand. We love our town.’ And the two brothers—wanted to build a deep water port—so they went east, they found the Buffalo Bayou, they dug their deep water port, and they called it Houston.

And, in 1883 the New York, Texas and Mexican Railway bypassed the settlement.

A man named Telferner came through and said, ‘For 30-thousand dollars, I’d like to put my railroad stop here in your town.’ And they said, ‘A railroad? We have a port. We don’t want your dirty old railroad.’ He moved seven miles north, and he named that stop after his daughter Edna. Within two years, everyone picked up and moved to Edna.

Texana became a ghost town, which today rests at the bottom of Lake Texana, created in 1979 when the Lavaca-Navidad River Authority built a damn on the Navidad River.

Funding provided in part by Ram Trucks. Guts. Glory. Ram.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Independence Hall Exhibit at Washington-on-the-Brazos, Photo credit: Rob McCorkle, © Texas Parks and Wildlife Department

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Texas Independence Day is March 2. And Washington on the Brazos is where it all started.

This town was chosen as the site of the general convention, which met on March 1, 1836, and adjourned on March 17.

Janice Campbell, former interpreter at Washington-on-the-Brazos State Historic Site, said those seventeen days in 1836, paved the way for Texas future.

In those seventeen days, the elected delegates that came here, they declared their independence from Mexico; they wrote a constitution; and they elected some officers for a government. So, I guess you could say the groundwork of the government of the Republic of Texas was created right here in Washington.

Campbell said one cannot help but feel a deep connection to the past when visiting Washington-on-the-Brazos.

It’s pretty awesome to be able to walk out there, and walk along the main thoroughfare of the town and know that we are walking in the footsteps of history…right here in Washington.

Check out the Texas Parks and Wildlife Calendar of events to see when Washington-on-the-Brazos State Historic Site plans to celebrate Texas’ Independence.

We record our series at the Block House in Austin and Joel Block engineers our program.

That’s our show… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Buffalo Soldier reenactors participating in parade in downtown Austin, Texas.

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Buffalo soldiers were heroes in their time; examples of courage and hard work. But their accomplishments, seldom taught in classrooms, leave many young African American students, like Greg McClanahan, with a limited sense of their history.

They didn’t teach us anything in school but that we were slaves. They didn’t teach us that we were heroes or nothing. In history, all you ever heard about was slaves this, and slaves that. You didn’t hear about no black heroes.

When we met, McClanahan was attending public school in Kerrville, where he was introduced to Buffalo Soldier reenactors from Parks and Wildlife.

What we are doing is taking the legacy of the Buffalo Soldier into the cities and into the schools. And we feel that sharing this story, that we can instill some pride and some resolve in them.

Ken Pollard retired from coordinating Buffalo Soldiers Heritage & Community Outreach for Parks and Wildlife. He said he found out about the Buffalo Soldiers as an adult, but wished he’d known about them earlier.

My relatives and kinfolk were cowboys, man. We didn’t have any black cowboys or soldiers, you know, to really look up to. For me, to have the black heroes there when I was growing up, that sense of pride would have been instilled in me. But if I had grown up with that—they would have been my heroes.

Find information about Buffalo Soldiers Heritage & Community Outreach on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

That’s our show… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Buffalo Soldier reenactors.

Buffalo Soldiers: Unsung Texas Heroes Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

[singing] I was once a captured slave. Now I’m just a black man who came to be….[fade and play under script]

In the 19th Century, Black men who served in the 9th and 10th Regiments of Cavalry and 24th and 25th Regiments of Infantry of the United States Army were …

I am a Buffalo Soldier!

It’s said the Indians whom they fought during the Indian Wars gave troops the name because of their hair texture and their courage and ferocity in battle.

He feared and respected the buffalo. And he learned to fear and respect the black soldier as well.

That’s Buffalo Soldier reenactor, John Olivera, who says Buffalo soldiers played a major role in settling Texas.

Seventy-five percent of the soldiers that settled this area were Buffalo Soldiers. The only white men that were with them were the commanding officers. Almost all of the forts were manned and built by Buffalo Soldiers.

Texas Parks & Wildlife Department offers Texas Buffalo Soldier Outdoor Educational Programs. Find their schedule on the Parks and Wildlife website.

The Buffalo Soldiers fought not only the Indians, and outlaws, but racism and prejudice. We had a job to do, and we done it.

That’s our show…Funding provided in part by Ram Trucks. Guts. Glory. Ram

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Enjoying the great Texas outdoors.

More Outdoor Resolutions for the New Year Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Happy New Year, everyone! Welcome to 52 weeks fresh possibilities. So, let’s consider how to make 2016 better for ourselves and our loved ones.

Of course, we could all get outside more because life’s better outside. But you knew that.

Time in nature has a way of resetting the brain. And researchers say children who spend time outdoors do better on exams and are less disruptive in the classroom. So, if we can’t give teachers pay raises, let’s at least give them kids that can concentrate class. Am I right?

And you. Bring a pair of walking shoes to the office; stroll outdoors in the fresh air during your breaks. It’s amazing how much nature actually exists in a concrete jungle.

We have 95 state parks, most of which are 90 minutes away, or less, from most of us. Grab family and friends and take a nature hike, ride a bike. Pitch a tent and sleep under the stars, or fish free in these natural playgrounds.

Commit to learning something new about Texas history, but not from a book. Visit one of the state’s incredible historic sites where it all went down.

There’s a world of wonder out there, and once you spend more time outdoors, you’ll wonder why you didn’t do it sooner.

That’s our show… Funding provided in part by Ram Trucks. Guts. Glory. Ram.

From all of us at Passport to Texas, we wish you a New Year filled with outdoor adventure…For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.