Passport to Texas

This is Passport to Texas

[military maneuvers] Establish, fade, roll under actuality & script.

[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 known as…

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

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This is Passport to Texas

The custom of decorating trees for Christmas took root in German villages during the sixteenth century.

A lot of Germans, as you know, settled Texas. And they brought a tradition with them of the tabletop Christmas tree.

Cynthia Brandimarte is program director for Texas historic sites.

When you look at interior photographs of Texas houses, you see many tabletop Christmas trees ornamented for the season, particularly in German households in the late nineteenth century Texas.

Ornaments were handmade then, and small gifts often dangled from branches. Eventually, the tabletop conifer gave way to larger trees that became “floor models,” and the decorations sometimes mirrored the day’s events.

You saw more and more seven or eight feet [tall] trees that were placed on the floor. And because we had just ended the Spanish American war in victory, there was a fashion in the early part of the twentieth century to decorate trees with a few American flags here and there. We have photographic evidence for that.

What kinds of ornaments will hang from your tree this year? Tell us about them at passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show… we record our series at the Production Block in Austin, Texas…Joel Block engineers our program.

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

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This is Passport to Texas

There is something magical about how stars peer through the bare branches of trees in winter. [Twinkle SFX] And Monument Hill & Kreische Brewery State Historic Sites in La Grange duplicate this celestial wonder during their annual trail of lights.

The park is lit up with very beautiful lights all around the trail—it’s about a quarter mile walking trail, including a trip through the house—the old Kreische House—where we have entertainment, and refreshments, and Santa Claus is here; and all the families and kids can come and enjoy a beautiful setting for a Christmas Celebration.

Site superintendent, Dennis Smith, says the park’s location adds a special feature to the trail of lights.

Our park sits on a 200-foot bluff that overlooks the river and overlooks the City of La Grange. And just the night view from up here, looking over down to La Grange, and the beautiful setting of the lights in the park are absolutely spectacular.

A generation of Texans has enjoyed this holiday event, and so can you.

Our trail of lights program is open to the public. There’s a cost: three dollars per person thirteen years old and older, and one dollar for children between the ages of three and twelve.

Children under the age of three get in free. The trail is open December 5, 11, 12, 18 and 19. Visit passportotexas.org for complete details.

That’s our show… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
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December 5, 11, 12, 18, 19, 2009 — Monument Hill & Kreische Brewery SHS — Trail of Lights — Enjoy a fantastic quarter-mile trail illuminated with thousands of lights that decorate the Monument Hill and Kreische House portions of our park. Walk a trail overlooking the town of La Grange. Experience the more traditionally decorated 1850s-era German home of H.L. Kreische, bedecked in Christmas splendor, in a Texas-German style. Bring your children to tell secrets to Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus and enjoy the genuine seasonal hospitality of the Friends of Monument Hill and Kreische Brewery, who sponsor the event. No pets please. 6-7:45 p.m.; fees $3 adults, $1 children 12 and under (979) 968-5658.

CLICK HERE to watch a video about the park.

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

You’re hiking in a state park, and spy something unusual on the side of the trail. You stop to get a closer look, and discover a very old knife. The temptation may be to scoop it up and give it a place of honor on your fireplace mantel. But, Margaret Howard says — that would be illegal.

There’s a particular state law that protects the archeology, and it’s called the Antiquities Code. And it really does protect every single item in our parks that is greater than fifty years old.

Howard is the archeology survey team leader at Parks and Wildlife. Artifacts found in state parks help tell the story of how the land was used, and by whom.

We like to say that these objects belong to all Texans, not any particular Texan. And I think most people would feel bad if they thought that they had taken something that was part of a story and put it on their mantel where it just becomes an object, and its tale is lost.

If you were to find an artifact in a state park, leave it where you found it; it could be part of a known story, or a new story.

And try to alert park personnel and then have them come back. They can make a record of it that we can add to the record we have. If it’s something that we already know about, it expands what we know. And there is, as you said, the chance of discovering something new. But it’s critically important where it was found. And the temptation is to pick something up, and look at it and carry it back.

Learn more about Texas antiquities on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

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

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

The ecological regions of Texas are diverse — something the Parks and Wildlife archaeological team knows well.

Our team has to become proficient in all of those different areas, and there are very different ways to find the archeology of those areas.

Margaret Howard is archeology survey team leader at Parks and Wildlife. Some areas of the state give up their secrets more easily than others.

In the Pineywoods, it’s deep below the pine needle blanket that’s on the ground;’ it’s very well preserved but it’s hard to find. Out in West Texas, it often shows on the surface, so it’s easy to find, but then it’s very vulnerable to erosion, or even vandalism.

Even though there are more than a million acres of parkland to survey, knowing where to look for artifacts is easier than you might think.

Humans are just not as different as you might want to imagine. We’ve had a number of cases where ancient campgrounds were below the campgrounds that are used today. We are humans; we’re walking across the ground the way that humans once did. Humans are thirsty, humans need to eat, they like shade and protection from the weather. And so, if you look at those aspects of the landscape, you can figure out where people tended to live.

Learn how Parks and Wildlife archeologists use the clues left behind from peoples’ activities to gain insight in Texas’ past when you log onto the Texas Parks and Wildlife Website.

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

Texas Archaeology Play Now | Play in Popup | Download