Featured Park

Goliad State Park: A Must See for Texas History Buffs and Nature Lovers

Mission Espíritu Santo gleams like a beacon amid wheat-colored farmland on the outskirts of the South Texas town of Goliad in a bend of the San Antonio River. The resurrected Spanish mission, which dates to 1749, represents vital chapters in Texas history that await discovery by Goliad State Park guests.

Reconstructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps more than 60 years ago, this Birthplace of the Texas cattle industry serves as the focal point of 188-acre Goliad State Park. Visitors can immerse themselves in 250-plus years of Spanish colonial and Texas history, camp on the wooded banks of the San Antonio River and enjoy the area's natural beauty by bike, kayak, canoe or on foot.

Day visitors should plan to spend a minimum of 30 minutes to an hour touring the church, granary, workshop and grounds of the Mission Nuestra Senora del Espíritu Santo de Zuniga. The mission established by Franciscan friars to convert Native Americans to Christianity and lay claim to this part of the New World for the King of Spain.

When most people think of Goliad, they refer to the Battle of Coleto Creek, where Fannin surrendered. The Spanish settled here in 1749, pre-dating Goliad's significance in the Texas Revolution. The settlement formed around Mission Nuestra Senora del Espíritu Santo de Zuniga was once a thriving community. Today, as visitors walk the grounds, step into the chapel or examine the old workshop they can easily visualize the day to day activities of a once thriving Spanish colonial mission.

Settled by Spanish missionaries in 1749 as La Bahía, the community's original moniker derived from La Bahía del Espíritu Santo (the Bay of the Holy Spirit) near present-day Lavaca Bay, where the Spanish originally established a fort and mission in 1722. The presidio and mission were later moved inland, ultimately ending up at their present locations. La Bahía's influence over commerce and other aspects 18th century life impacted Texas for more than half a century. It occupied a huge expanse of land stretching some 60 miles between the Guadalupe and San Antonio rivers.

Granted jurisdiction over this domain was Mission Espíritu Santo. During its heyday in the 1700s, the mission and its sister fort, Presidio La Bahía just south of the river, oversaw 40,000 head of cattle and housed hundreds of people, including indigenous Native Americans who were schooled in Spanish ways and Catholicism. Vaqueros from the mission played a role in the Revolutionary War in the 1770s by herding cattle to Louisiana to support the struggle for American independence from the British.

The mission fell into disrepair in the 1830s. In subsequent years, it was used as a school and Protestant college. In 1932, the land was deeded to the state, and was painstakingly restored by the federal Works Progress Administration and the CCC before being transferred to the State Parks Board in 1949.

Vintage photos and dozens of exhibits inside the mission museum, which is housed in the former granary, help interpret the mission's early years and chronicle its restoration. Artifacts, such as cut nails, lance points, steel and lead shot, a church bell fragment, a hammered copper door ornament and hewing hatchet, attest to the success of the archeological excavations.

Just four miles away at another Goliad State Park site, archeologists are still unlocking keys to the past at Mission Rosario. Stabilized mission walls mark the location of the 1754 Spanish mission established to serve the more nomadic and fiercely independent Karankawa, who unlike Mission Espíritu Santo's more settled Aranama and Tamique Indians, resisted attempts to change their culture. Las Pastores (the Shepherd's Play), held in January, recreates the play the Spanish employed to teach Native Americans about good and evil.

The cooler winter and early spring months prove an ideal time to enjoy the park's natural riparian setting and amenities. Popular with park visitors are the shaded campgrounds with water, electricity and pull-through RV sites with 50-amp service. Campsites range from $8 a night (water-only tent sites) to $20 (full hook-ups), and can be rented weekly and monthly as well, which proves convenient for the increasing number of Winter Texans who visit on their way to and from the Rio Grande Valley.

The park features two separate trailer camping areas – one in the front part of the park offering full hook-up sites – and the other in the back of the park with water and electricity offering spacious sites conductive to larger groups. The group dining hall, which accommodates 75 people, can be rented starting at $70 to $120 and includes air conditioning and a fireplace. Fourteen riverside campsites with water only cater to tent campers. A handful of screened shelters can be rented, as well, for $16 a night.

Ready access to the tree-shaded San Antonio River for fishing, canoeing and other water sports gives Goliad State Park an appealing dual personality. The takeout point for the new Goliad Paddling Trail is located within park boundaries. Each November, participants in the Fall Flotilla end their float and eat a catered lunch at the park.

Swimming in the park's Junior Olympic-sized pool, biking, hiking, bird watching and Saturday nature and history tours provide a variety of recreational and educational opportunities during longer park visits.

While you're in the Goliad area, take time to visit the Fannin Battleground where the Texian hero and his troops fought the Mexican army before surrendering, being briefly imprisoned and facing a firing squad. The common burial site of Fannin and his troops can be visited at the Fannin Memorial Monument next to Presidio La Bahía, a restored fort operated by the Catholic Diocese and open to tours. Next door is another unit of Goliad State Park, the Zaragoza Birthplace. A statue and a tiny, reconstructed house pays tribute to Texas-born Ignacio Seguin Zaragoza, who led Mexican forces to victory against the French army at Puebla on May 5 (Cinco de Mayo), 1862.

Goliad State Park is located just south of the Goliad town square on U.S. 183/77A. The park entry fee is $3 for persons 13 and older. It is one of more than 90 state parks that make up the Texas State Park system. For more information about Goliad State Park, call (361) 645-3405. To make an overnight camping reservation, call (512) 389-8900. For general Texas State Park information, call (800) 792-1112 or visit www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/.