Published: April 30, 2008 11:14 am            

John Watson: Cruising down the King's Highway

El Camino Real (the King’s Highway), also known as the Old San Antonio Road, is possibly the oldest recorded roadway in Texas, having been used for more than 300 years. It is first mentioned as the route taken by the Franciscan missionaries who established Mission Tejas in East Texas near Nacogdoches in 1690.

The eastern section of the highway begins at Natchitoches, La., and runs west to Nacogdoches and on through Davy Crockett National Forest to the city of Crockett and then on to San Antonio. From San Antonio the road goes on down to Mexico, crossing the Rio Grande at a spot near the present site of Eagle Pass.

Louisiana 6 follows the route of El Camino Real from Natchitoches, La., to the Texas border, where it changes to Texas 21, which follows the route on to San Marcos. This section was designated as a National Historic Trail in 2004.

The better-known section of the road is the one from Nacogdoches to Crockett, through the East Texas Piney Woods. The section passes by many historic sites including the Caddo Mounds State Historic Site and the Mission Tejas site.

The Spaniards used this as a trade route between East Texas, Louisiana and Mexico for more than one hundred years. In the early 1800s, American settlers used this route coming into Texas, then Mexican territory, from Louisiana and points east.

Stephen F. Austin brought his Austin’s Colony (also known as the Old 300) over this route beginning in 1821. Austin’s colony was the first English-speaking settlement in Spanish controlled Texas, and it opened the way for other American pioneers to come to Texas.

Davy Crockett, on the way to meet his destiny at the Alamo, came by the way of the Old San Antonio Road. A spring in the city of Crockett is said to be where he and his traveling companions camped. The spring and city of Crockett are named for him.

Supposedly many Longhorn cattle were driven out of Texas over this route headed for Mississippi to feed the Confederate soldiers during the Civil War.

I recently drove from Alto through the national forest to the city of Crockett. Some of the drive through the forest still looks pretty much as it has for hundreds of years. In places where the trees are overhanging the roadway you get a feeling of what it might have been like to travel through this area in a wagon.

I noticed that every few miles along the way a pink granite marker would be located by the roadside stating: “King’s Highway, Camino Real, Old San Antonio Road, Marked by the Daughters of the American Revolution and the State of Texas, A.D. 1918.”

It seemed strange to me that they would have so many markers along the old roadway. In researching the Old San Antonio Road I found that in 1915 the state of Texas, in cooperation with the DAR, had the route of the El Camino Real surveyed, and the DAR had the granite markers made and placed them at five-mile intervals along the route.

Many historical markers follow the 40 mile stretch of highway. One marker consisting of a small bronze plaque on a slab of pink granite was for the mission of Santissimo Nombre de Maria. Mission Tejas was established on the site of a Caddo Indian village in 1690, and mission Santissimo Nombre de Maria was later established a few miles northeast of the village.

A home built by Joseph D. Rice Sr., who came to Texas in 1828, was designated as the Stage Coach Inn, a stopping place for the stagecoach from Nacogdoches to Crockett.

Another marker is at the site of Lacy’s Fort, built before 1835 as a home and trading post by Martin Lacy, Indian agent for the Mexican government. The fort was used as a place of refuge after the massacre of the Killough family on Oct. 5, 1838.

Another place of historical significance in the national forest is the Pine Springs Campground. This was a favorite site of the Tejas Indians before the arrival of European settlers. The site was later used by the early explorers, Spanish missionaries and traders.

Early travelers were attracted by abundant game, including deer and wild turkey, and fresh water, which flowed from springs 300 feet from El Camino Real.

The strip of land upon which Texas 21 is built has witnessed much of Texas’ history, from the earliest Indian settlements in the area to the arrival of the first Franciscan missionaries to the coming of the first American settlers to Texas. A drive down this highway can seem like a drive through history.



John Watson of Cleburne can be reached at texastraveler@sbcglobal.net.

        

• Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.