Discover Treasures Along The Royal Road

By P.A. Geddie

The Caddo Region of East Texas is a designated section of the national historic corridor El Camino Real de los Tejas. Also called the Royal Road and King’s Highway, it was an important trail blazed in 1691, stretching from the interior of Mexico, across the Rio Grande, and then across Texas and into Louisiana.

The East Texas section of the trail includes the communities of Alto, Grapeland, Hemphill, Nacogdoches, and San Augustine. Surrounded by the four national forests of the piney woods of Texas, outdoor recreation opportunities abound, including birdwatching, fishing, hiking, and boating.

Embedded into the beautiful forest setting is the rich history of the human inhabitants of the land, including Native Americans, Spaniards, and European settlers. Signs of the immigrants, adventurers, and pioneers who came before are carefully protected and integrated into modern day entertainment and exploration.

The Fredonia Hotel in downtown Nacogdoches is a good spot to make home base while out exploring the area. Builders named it for the Fredonia Rebellion of 1826, when citizens of that era decided the oldest town in Texas needed its independence from Mexico.

Inside and out, the six-story mid-century modern building is a beacon for people from many generations who are drawn to its 1950s vibe with present day amenities.

From The Fredonia Hotel, it is a short walk to entertainment, shopping, and dining in downtown Nacogdoches. The staff at the centrally located visitors center has a “Nac” for providing all the information one needs to find their way around town and the surrounding area.

Some of the local attractions include Splash Kingdom Waterpark, and a planetarium, beautiful gardens, and art museums at Stephen F. Austin University.

Within a ten-mile radius of Nacogdoches are ample options for outdoor activities, including places for biking and walking, golf, birdwatching, and horseback riding. Lakes Nacogdoches and Naconiche are two favorite fishing spots.

Nine miles northeast of Nacogdoches is Naca Valley Vineyard, where the tasting room has spectacular views of native plants and flowers, including wild muscadine grapes, honeysuckle, purple wisteria, and pine trees. A focal point of the property is Pete’s Pond, where ducks fly in to rest every evening at dusk.

Just south of Nacogdoches is the community of Lufkin with a vibrant arts scene, the Museum of East Texas, the Naranjo Museum of Natural History, and the Ellen Trout Zoo. Less than an hour south of Lufkin in the Big Thicket is the oldest Native American reservation in Texas. The Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas welcomes visitors throughout the year to learn about their rich history and culture.

A venture over to Caddo Mounds State Historic Site in Alto to the west of Nacogdoches is a must for those interested in signs of the first humans to inhabit this part of Texas. The ninety-eight-acre complex was the home of mound builders who lived in the region for five hundred years, beginning about 800 CE. The attraction offers exhibits and an interpretive trail through Caddo dwellings and ceremonial areas, including two temple mounds, a burial mound, and a village.

South of Alto on Highway 21, travelers come to a tiny community called Weeping Mary. Folklore tells of a woman who became distraught when tricked into selling her land to a deceitful man. An excellent book, Weeping Mary, by photographer O. Rufus Lovett, gives insight into the community.

Continuing south from Weeping Mary, adventurers find themselves at the northern end of Davy Crockett National Forest. It has more than one hundred sixty-thousand acres of woodlands, streams, recreation areas, and wildlife habitat within the Neches and Trinity River basins. Recreation areas include a forty-five-acre lake, river access, camping, picnicking, a swimming beach and bathhouse, amphitheater, concession stand, interpretive forest trail, showers, boating, and fishing in a beautiful forest setting.

On the way to Grapeland, along the Camino Real, is Mission Tejas State Park. Activities include camping, picnicking, hiking, and fishing. A pond near the picnic area offers opportunities to see fish and aquatic life. Hiking and nature trails show the beauty of the piney woods.

Nearby is Grapeland Safari, where visitors see a wide range of animals from all over the world. The drive-through fifty-nine-acre park features llamas, zebras, aoudad sheep, camels, Tibetan yaks, buffalo, ellipsen waterbucks, sulcata tortoises, wallabies, kangaroos, beefalo, and fallow deer. There are also pony rides, train rides, a petting zoo, and a gift shop with unique souvenirs and refreshments.

Moving south, travelers find the small town of Crockett, with historic homes and boutique shopping, in the seat of Houston County. Between a wide variety of shows brought in by the Piney Woods Fine Arts Association, and the acoustic roots music at the Camp Street Cafe, there is a steady stream of quality entertainment.

Back in Nacogdoches are several historic sites along the Royal Road. The Durst-Taylor Historic House and Gardens is a circa 1835 wood-frame house and is the second oldest building in Nacogdoches. The house sits very close to the intersection of the old El Camino Real de los Tejas and La Calle de Norte, now called North Street, another eighteenth-century trail connecting the villages of the Nacogdoches and Nasoni Native Americans.

The Durst-Taylor house was home to many early businessmen, bankers, and early state leaders, including Bennett Blake, Thomas Jefferson Rusk, and William Ochiltree. This hands-on museum includes a fully functioning smokehouse, blacksmith shop, and chicken coop, as well as heirloom gardens and a sugarcane mill.

Nacogdoches Pocket Park on South Pecan Street holds Spanish Colonial-period artifacts from the 1700–1800s.

The Sterne-Hoya House Museum and Library on Lanana Street is an 1830 dogtrot house built by prominent merchant Adolphus Sterne, and later owned by the Hoya family. Now managed by the City of Nacogdoches, the interior of the Sterne-Hoya Museum depicts the history of the Sterne occupancy during the Texas Revolution and the Victorian period of the Hoya family. Furnished with antiques, family heirlooms, and a Texas history library, it also has one of the earliest wine cellars in Texas.

A stone fort on the campus of Stephen F. Austin University started its life as a magnificent Spanish Colonial house. Built by Antonio Gil Y’Barbo sometime between 1788 and 1791 on the Royal Road, the house survived several attacks, acquiring its nickname the “Old Stone Fort” along the way. The Mexican government and others claimed the building before it settled into its last incarnation as a saloon. Demolished in 1902, Y’Barbo’s house was the focal point of one of the first preservation efforts. Reconstructed in 1936 as the Stone Fort Museum, it shares collections and exhibits exploring the natural and cultural history of the region.

Between Stephen F. Austin University and downtown Nacogdoches is the Washington Square District, a mixture of historic residential and educational buildings. Two- and three-story Queen Anne and Stick houses line the east side of Mound Street. Along the west side, on Washington Square, is a wide assortment of educational buildings, including the notable Greek Revival Old University Building built in 1859 and the Art Deco Thomas J. Rusk Building built in 1939. The district includes many architect-designed homes, including several by Dietrich Rulfs. Examples of Arts & Crafts, Mission, Spanish Colonial Revival, and Tudor Revival styles by Rulfs and other architects are there.

Heading east from Nacogdoches along the old Camino Real puts travelers near the north edge of Angelina National Forest. The more than one hundred fifty thousand-acre complex lies in the Neches River Basin. A five-and-a-half-mile Sawmill Hiking Trail takes visitors across old bridges and sawmill ruins, streams, and waterfalls. Within the forest is Sam Rayburn Reservoir, a one hundred fifteen thousand-acre lake on the Angelina River formed by the construction of Sam Rayburn Dam in the early 1960s. Humans came to the area around eight thousand years ago, according to archeological studies.

There are several recreation areas that allow for fishing, boating, skiing, camping, picnics, hiking trails, and there is a campfire theater at Caney Creek.

Back on the Royal Road going east, visitors land in the heart of downtown San Augustine. It is a great day trip from Nacogdoches or overnight destination for history and nature lovers who want to really dive in. There are several vacation rentals available, some in historic homes, and many places to stay in the surrounding area.

A favorite treat visitors find in downtown San Augustine is the famous Grapefruit Hi Ball. The drink is a secret recipe made in an old-fashioned soda fountain in the local drugstore that’s been in operation since 1904. The store is one of seven local businesses recognized by the Texas Historical Commission for being in operation for more than fifty years.

Several sites on the El Camino Real de los Tejas trail in and around San Augustine include the 1919 San Augustine County Jail with a Law Enforcement Museum and Texana Research Library. The Old Garrett House, ten miles west, is a recorded Texas Historical Landmark and the oldest house in the county. A 1900 cotton gin and an old caboose are visible from a bridge crossing the Ayish Bayou.

Built in 1889, the Hollis Building is the oldest downtown commercial structure and is commemorated by state markers. Officing on this site were Sam Houston, and K.L. Anderson, the last vice president of the Republic of Texas. His home, a block away on North Congress, is a registered Texas Historical Landmark. Numerous other homes, have official historic designations, including the Matthew Cartwright House, an early example of Greek Revival architecture in Texas. Designed by Augustus Phelps, the home was completed in 1839. The site includes the principal house along with a small schoolhouse, well structure, and office.

Four miles east on the Royal Road is the Colonel Phillip A. Sublett House, where Sam Houston came to visit often and stayed a while to recover from ankle injuries sustained at the Battle of San Jacinto.

A few miles further east is Chapel Hill Cemetery, with gravesites dating as far back as 1842.

Another Texas Historic Landmark is the Augus Theater constructed on Columbia Street in the 1920s. Once operating as a movie theater, it is now a popular venue for special events.

A frequently visited site in San Augustine is Mission Nuestra Senora de los Dolores de los Ais, more often called Mission Dolores. It was one of the easternmost sites of Spanish Texas along the Royal Road. Founded in the 1720s by Spanish missionaries trying to convert the Ais people to Christianity, the facility was active for more than fifty years before it was abandoned and became covered by a pine forest. Archeologists rediscovered the site in 1976 and it is now preserved as Mission Dolores State Historic Site.

Going further east on the Royal Road, travelers enter Sabine County where there is a wealth of historical markers. They include one honoring Mial Scurlock, who was an early Texas settler killed in the Battle of the Alamo, the County Line Baptist Church and Cemetery, which was established soon after the Civil War, and the site of the Battle of Fredonia which was the first Anglo American rebellion in East Texas in 1826.

Two roadside markers note the town of Geneva, one as a location on the El Camino Real and the other a Texas Historical Commission marker commemorating El Lobanillo, a ranch established during the mid-1700s by Antonio Gil Y’Barbo.

Today, the El Camino Real de los Tejas National Historic Trail Association maintains the property called Lobanillo Swales. The swales are the largest concentration of physical remnants of the Royal Road in America. In the seven swales, measuring up to eighteen feet deep and twelve feet wide, archeological surveys of the site discovered more than three centuries of artifacts, ranging from the Spanish Colonial period in the late 1700s to the American period in the early 1900s. The area represents cultural human pathways etched into the landscape via pack mule, cart, wagon, and foot.

Driving south through Sabine County along the Royal Road travelers encounter Milam, the oldest town in the county with a history dating back to at least 1828. While no longer a formally-organized town, there are still a hundred or so people living there who preserve its history. Each fall the community gathers for Milam Settlers Days in El Camino Park, where the historical 1830s Causey Log Home is located.

Due east of Milam along Toledo Bend Reservoir is the Gaines-Oliphant House. It was once part of a noble enterprise on the Sabine River crossing. Listed in the National Register of Historic Places, the house — built in 1818 — is one of the earliest pre-Republic Anglo structures in Texas. The log house is the only surviving structure of James Gaines’ estate, and has a ferry and tavern on site.

Venturing south to downtown Hemphill, visitors find a quaint courthouse square with antique stores and gift shops. The seat of Sabine County, Hemphill is home to a 1906 Beaux Arts-style county courthouse. Also, there is a 1904 Historic Jail Museum with a library and interesting exhibits.

On February 1, 2003, the Columbia Space Shuttle disintegrated over East Texas on its re-entry to earth at the conclusion of a microgravity research mission. Many of the pieces of the wreckage and remains of the astronauts came to rest in Hemphill. Volunteers put in many hours on the search efforts. Today, the NASA Columbia Museum there honors the mission and the seven Columbia astronauts who lost their lives.

South of Hemphill is the Trail Between the Lakes, a twenty-eight-mile hiking path that winds through the southern half of the Sabine National Forest. It extends from Lakeview Recreation Area on Toledo Bend Reservoir to State Highway 96, and comes within sight of the easternmost point of Sam Rayburn Reservoir. Considered a challenging route, it takes an average of nine hours to complete. This trail is good for backpacking, birding, and camping. It is open year round and is beautiful to visit anytime. Leashed dogs are welcome.

Straddling the eastern edge of Texas with Louisiana is the one hundred sixty thousand-acre Sabine National Forest with the Royal Road going straight through it. Within the forest is Toledo Bend Reservoir, the fifth largest man-made reservoir in the United States and a nationally known recreation attraction. Private facilities range from fish camps with marinas and primitive camping to lodge and motel type facilities. Outdoor recreation opportunities in the Sabine National Forest include fishing, camping, hiking, horseback riding, and mountain biking. There are approximately fifty private facilities on the Texas side of Toledo Bend Reservoir and forty or more private developments on the Louisiana side.

Included in the Sabine National Forest region north of San Augustine and Sabine counties is Shelby County, where visitors find Center as the county seat. The historic former courthouse there is the only Irish castle-style courthouse remaining in the United States. Designed by Irishman John Joseph Emmett Gibson, the 1885 building is a National Register property and state historic site. Complete with turrets, towers, and a frame cupola, Gibson used castles in his native Ireland for inspiration. Visitors enjoy small-town boutiques, dining, and the annual What-A-Melon Festival.

Contact the visitor center for any of the towns noted for more information.

This article is an excerpt from the book, Upper East Side of Texas: Small Towns & Cultural Districts with much more about the region and more than 300 beautiful photographs. Get a copy in regional shops or on Amazon. Learn more on www.SpeckledCrow.com.