Passport to Your National Parks

Mission Espada was the first mission in Texas, founded in 1690 as San Francisco de los Tejas near present-day Weches, Texas. In 1731, the mission was relocated to the San Antonio River area and renamed Mission San Francisco de la Espada. Explore the mission grounds, church, and museum.

Explore a diverse array of histories contained within El Camino Real de los Tejas’ 150-year life, including the Spanish struggle to missionize American Indian nations, the growth of cattle ranching in the Mexican period, and the movement for Texan independence and statehood. El Camino Real de los Tejas NHT is administered by the National Trails Office Regions 6|7|8 in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

This museum showcases the region's history, culture, industry, and populations through a series of changing exhibits and educational seminars.

Mission Dolores was a Spanish mission built in 1721. The site imparts significant history about the American Indian experience with Texas’ earliest European settlers. Although there are no historic above-ground remains, the mission is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and is a designated State Antiquities Landmark.

These sites commemorate two distinct, but equally important, eras of Texas history: the struggle for independence from Mexico, and the wave of German immigration that changed the state's demographics forever.

Begin your trip to Nacogdoches with a visit to the Charles Bright Visitor Center located in Plaza Principal in the historic downtown district. You will find a staff to assist you during your stay along with maps, information and valuable insight into the historic community. The center is located along the historic route of El Camino Real de Los Tejas.

Fort Boggy gives visitors a taste of frontier life during the Mexican period. The fort consisted of two small blockhouses (fortified buildings that usually include ports for firing outwards) and eleven dwellings inside an area just less than one square mile.

The Dimmit County Public Library and Wade House Museum offer books, objects, and events to enrich one's understanding of American Indian groups that inhabited Texas long before the Spanish arrived.

Born in the Spanish town of Béxar, José Antonio Navarro’s life (1795-1871) and career spanned four distinct periods of Texas history: Spanish, Mexican, the Republic of Texas, and the United States. A signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence, a writer of the Texas State Constitution, and the namesake of Navarro County, he was a champion of civil rights for Hispanics.

Mission San Francisco de los Tejas, the first Spanish mission in the province of Texas, was established in 1690 on San Pedro Creek just east of the site of present-day Augusta. Although the original site of the 1690 mission has not been found, Mission Tejas State Park offers hikers a chance to walk an original segment of El Camino Real de los Tejas.