Ghosts in Texas
To Big Bend and Back, Day 19SAN ANTONIO, Texas— At last. In Del Rio this morning, we found what we had sought in vain in Lajitas and Terlingua. A commodity that is easily taken for granted, often not even considered, except when you desperately need it and can't locate one. Yes, we're talking about an automobile vacuum cleaner. We must have brought at least 40 pounds of grit with us from southwest Texas and finally this morning, we were able to shed most of the layers of grime inside the car. Ahhh! We can even breathe better without coating the inside of our lungs with dust.
Leaving Del Rio, we had to remind ourselves to head east, not west on US-90. Our first stop was in Brackettville (pop. 1,876) at the Seminole Indian Scouts Cemetery. The Black Seminole Scouts were descendents of Seminoles and free blacks or runaway slaves who made their way to Florida and lived with the Seminoles there. The scouts were recruited by the U.S. Army to protect the Texas frontier settlers from hostile Native American tribes in the area.
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Seminole Indian Scout Cemetery |
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But we want to see the village! |
East of Brackettville, we passed another Border Patrol checkpoint. The agent confirmed by inquiry that we were both U.S. citizens and waved us through. Later in the little town of Knippa, we saw an agent standing on a tall platform next to the railroad tracks, visually inspecting rail car contents as a long train crept slowly past his watchful eyes.
Just west of San Antonio, we detoured to the site of Old D'Hanis. Established in the spring of 1847, D'Hanis was settled by 29 Alsatian families, some of the hundreds of families recruited to emigrate to the Republic of Texas by colonization agent Henry Castro. The colony thrived, a post office was established, and, in 1869, St. Dominic's Church was built.
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St. Dominic's Church |
Our last stop of the day was the Quihi Dance Hall at yet another Texas ghost town. Also one of Castro's colonies, Quihi was the target of repeated attacks and eventually the town was disbanded in the 1880s. However, the Alsatians and their descendents continued to live in the area. In keeping with their European heritage, residents formed the Quihi Schuetzen Verein (later the Quihi Gun Club) in 1890.
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Quihi Gun Club |
DAILY STATS:
- Started in Del Rio, TX; ended in San Antonio, TX
- Weather: Partly Cloudy to Sunny, 40° to 69°
- Miles driven: 231 (Trip total: 3,413)
- States: 1 (TX) (Trip total: 6)
- Letterboxes found: 4 (Trip total: 81)
- Leaf-carrying ants: 892
- Guys walking on the roadside with dog and stroller: 1
- Grumpy people in Brackettville: 4
- Pounds of dust removed from car: 43
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