13 MAY 2003
OLD LA BAHIA ROAD
495 McCRIGHT DR, VICTORIA, TEXAS
Daniel Braman Chapter, Victoria, TX
The Daniel Braman Chapter DAC salutes our former chapter Regent, Betty Bireley, 2001-2003. On a very windy, hot day in South Texas, with threatening showers, Betty led the chapter in placing a marker on an old Indian path and a major Spanish colonial trail now known as the “Old La Bahia Road”.
This path comes up the bank from a crossing on the Guadalupe River, climbing to the top of the bluff in Riverside Park, Victoria, TX. The path is located directly in front of the beautiful Rose Garden. This historical event was observed with a program done by Daniel Braman Chapter Regent Betty Bireley . Chapter members, local historians, City officials, and members of Victoria Preservation, Inc. attended the unveiling. Betty and the chapter worked hard to secure the historical marker to commemorate this colonial trail, part of the National Project of the NSDAC National Regent Mary Ann Hepler, who had chosen the marking of Indian paths in America as her project. The marker reads:
This path comes up the bank from a crossing on the Guadalupe River, climbing to the top of the bluff in Riverside Park, Victoria, TX. The path is located directly in front of the beautiful Rose Garden. This historical event was observed with a program done by Daniel Braman Chapter Regent Betty Bireley . Chapter members, local historians, City officials, and members of Victoria Preservation, Inc. attended the unveiling. Betty and the chapter worked hard to secure the historical marker to commemorate this colonial trail, part of the National Project of the NSDAC National Regent Mary Ann Hepler, who had chosen the marking of Indian paths in America as her project. The marker reads:
“This Louisiana trade route, a branch of Camino Real, connected New Spain, San Antonio, and Louisiana and was a major Spanish Colonial Trail after 1757, before Anglo-American settlement in the 1820’s. By 1749, the Spanish mission north of Victoria was moved to Goliad, Texas, and the traffic shifted south to a ford located one mile west of this marker. A Spanish outpost and Indian burial ground were found on the marker site. The ford was a boundary after 1824 when Don Martin de Leon established the colony of Guadalupe Victoria.” |