That's What I Think.: The Big History

The past Labor Day weekend we decided to check out some local history in my old hometown of Nacogdoches, Texas.

The story is that there was a Caddo Indian chief living on the Sabine River. His twin sons were ready to start tribes of their own so he sent one three days towards the rising sun and the other three days toward the setting sun, when they arrive, they should set up their villages. The one that went East was called Natchitoches, which is the oldest town in Louisiana. The one that went West was named Nacogdoches, and that town became the oldest in Texas.

Located in the Piney Woods of Deep East Texas, Nacogdoches has lots of charm from it's downtown brick streets, to it's pine tree lined college campus. There is hunting and fishing nearby and lots of nightlife for the locals and college students. El Camino Real goes through town (Hwy 21).

Four signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence are buried here. The Sterne-Hoya House (circa 1830) and the Durst-Taylor House (circa 1835) are the oldest structures still on their original location. Sam Houston was baptized here, Thomas J. Rusk was a frequent visitor and Davy Crocket stayed in town on his way to the Alamo.

The Marx Brothers visited in 1912 where they performed in the Opera House as a singing group. When someone from outside yelled that there was a runaway donkey, the crowd ran outside to see the excitement. Frustrated, when the crowd returned, Groucho made snide comments about the town. Instead of being angry, the audience laughed and the Marx Brothers slowly switched from singing as the forefront of their show to comedy.

In 2003, Nacogdoches was the center of media attention as the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated over East Texas. Many of the shuttle's pieces were found in and around town.

Old Stone Fort, 1885
Our first stop was the Old Stone Fort. Built in 1779 by Don Antonio Gil Y'Barbo as a house, it has been a court house, grocery store, candy store, saloon and fort. Before it was torn down in 1902, it was the oldest structure in the state and the tallest building in Nacogdcohes for over a century. The original stones were used to rebuild the structure in 1936 on the campus of Stephen F. Austin State University. Texas' first newspaper was printed in the Old Stone fort.

Old Stone Fort, today
Our next stop was west of town at the settlement of the Caddo Indians. They occupied the sight, 6 miles west of the town of Alto, between 800 A.D and 1300 A.D. The Caddo Indians were a self sufficient tribe. At the sight there remains three mounds which have been partly excavated.

The Burial Mound was used when a tribe member of high importance died. They would lay him down with a spear and some pottery and then his assistant and a member or two from his family would volunteer to be sacrificed to go into the great beyond with him. They would cover them with dirt and slowly, with each passing, the mound would grow.

The Burial Mound
The other two mounds at the sight are the Temple Mound and the Ceremonial Mound. The Temple mound had a large hut for worship. They only worshipped one God. During a religious ceremony, they would light the temple and celebrate it's burning. Afterward, they would cover the area with dirt, thus building the mound higher, and build a new temple.

What the village may have looked like.
The Ceremonial Mound, which is currently half it's original size due to excavation in 1939, was used when the chief needed to speak to all those in the village and surrounding villages. This Caddo village had about 500 permanent residents, but during an important speech, as many as 2000 people would attend.

They had an extensive trade connection as many artifacts found in the village were not native to the area. These include shells from the Gulf Coast and copper from the Great Lakes. At their high point, about 1100 A.D., they were the most highly developed prehistoric culture known in present day Texas.

When Spanish explorers first encountered the Caddo Indians, they were greeted with "Tejas" which meant "friend". The Spanish thought they were saying that their tribe was named Tejas and therefore they were originally called the "Tejas" Indians. Subsequently, the state of Texas is named after these Indians.

From there we continued west to Grapeland to visit the drive thru animal safari. This was the first time the kids had ever been this close to "wild" animals and been able to feed them.

Nosy camel
Our encounter was fun and nothing hurt us or the vehicle, unlike a visitor before us that had a run in with the water buffalo and unlike mine and Jenny's experience in Missouri when a ram attacked our car.