[Gregorian chant music]
- BRENDA JUSTICE: Goliad State Park and Historic Site
is a really special place.
We have a really nice blend of history,
as well as natural resources.
The park has camping, places to go hiking,
biking, canoeing, paddling,
as well as the history which it's mostly known for.
- Probably around 5 or 6 o'clock church bell rings again,
everyone went back to church one more time.
That was again completely different for the
Native Americans, a whole new experience.
- JARED RAMIREZ: This is an 18th century Spanish Mission.
One of the first efforts by Europeans
to colonize Texas.
Besides being introduced to Catholicism,
the natives were introduced to all different types
of Spanish living.
- That wall is original is well, all the way around.
- JARED: When the mission was at its peak there were
about 300 people living here.
And those were mainly natives housed within these walls.
- NARRATOR: The missions at Goliad lasted 81 years,
closing in 1830.
The buildings eventually fell into disrepair,
and much of the wood and stone from the site was salvaged
by local residents.
The property was acquired by the state in 1931,
and a year later the first of many restoration efforts
were begun.
- JARED: We have the historic Mission Espíritu Santo
de Zuniga, dating back to 1749.
We have Mission Rosario which is about
4 miles outside of downtown Goliad.
- This was the bell tower.
- JARED: Rosario would have been very similar
to what you see here at Espíritu Santo.
It was never quite as successful.
- But when they did an excavation here,
what they found was a lot of little pieces
of painted plaster.
- JARED: The mission compound was never developed
to the extent that this was.
And so when you visit there you're only going
to see the ruins of the mission buildings.
You'll see the outlines of all the different rooms
that were there.
It's really quite interesting to go visit Rosario
and see the similarities and the differences
between the activities at both sites.
- NARRATOR: Goliad is also the birthplace of
General Ignacio Zaragoza.
Born at the nearby community of La Bahía in 1829,
Zaragoza lead the Mexican Army in the
Battle of Puebla.
- SOLDIERS: Viva Mexico!
- NARRATOR: On May 5th, 1862, General Zaragoza's
outnumbered forces defeated the occupying
French army, a date now celebrated as Cinco de Mayo.
[church bell tolling]
- BRENDA: Many of our visitors that come here
specifically to see Mission Espíritu Santo,
and then they stumble upon the fact that we have
beautiful campgrounds in our park and a lot of nature.
- These are called our Eastern lubber grasshoppers.
Spanish Dagger.
This is called the Anaqua tree.
[fun organ music]
- BRENDA: We have beautiful nature trails
where our park rangers will do guided tours
on the weekend.
- JARED: It's a hog-nose.
He's smashing himself out and making himself wider
to look bigger right now.
You should never try this ok, because I'm a
professional park ranger and I know what I'm doing.
- BRENDA: We do have a beautiful biking trail,
called the Angel of Goliad hike and bike trail.
It connects downtown Goliad which is historic in itself.
Goes all the way through the park and then connects
to Presidio La Bahía just down the road from us.
- BIKER: There you go, got it.
- BRENDA: And we have the San Antonio River Trail.
It's a real natural, undeveloped trail.
It's great to be able to see the river.
[paddles splash in water]
One of the other special things we have is we're
on the Goliad Paddling Trail which is located on the
San Antonio River.
It's about 6.1 miles of beautiful, pristine river.
- JARED: The river has always been one of the
main draws of this part of Goliad.
There's a lot of evidence that it inhabited by
native groups well before any of the Europeans
had arrived here.
So, when the Spaniards came to this area,
they recognized it as a good place to build the
Mission as well.
You really get a good sense of the history here
because we have so much of the site intact.
Here you have the entire perimeter wall,
you have more or less natural landscape
surrounding the mission.
So, you really get a good sense of what it would
have been like to live and work here all those years.
[birds chirping]
- BRENDA: I think the thing I love the most about this park
is it is a small, peaceful park.
We have a little bit of everything here.
We have the San Antonio River,
beautiful Mission Espíritu Santo,
the campgrounds that are just gorgeous,
lots of wildlife.
It's just a blend of everything that you
don't find at other parks.
It's a lot of fun.