Small Home – Big Yard

Goliad State Parks

Good Morning from Goliad, TX.

We’re almost directly north of Harlingen along Highway 77, and about 90 miles SE of San Antonio, in Goliad State Park.  This wooded park is split in half by Highway 77 and nearly surrounded by the San Antonio River as it makes a lazy U-shaped bend before joining the Guadalupe River and entering San Antonio Bay at the Gulf of Mexico.   The best campsites are #1-#20 on the main loop next to the entrance building – we’re in site #19. Some of the outer sites will present a leveling problem, but offer great privacy.  But, while the highway isn’t visible, you can hear the trucks passing over the river bridge from some of the eastern sites.  All sites provide water, 20/30/50 amp service and sewer.  There are also about 20 sites on the other side of the highway, originally only overflow sites, these are set side by side in a parking lot type area.  We had about 10 channels of OTA TV from Victoria and fair 3G Verizon service.  The T-Mobile service was spotty at best in the campground, but much better up on the hill around the administration building.

Mission La Bahia

The highlight of this park is the Catholic Mission Nuestra Señora del Espíritu Santo de Zúñiga also known as Mission La Bahia established in northern “New Spain” to convert local native Indians to Christianity.  The Mission was originally established in 1722 on Matagorda Bay near Port Lavaca to secure the Texas coastline from the French. The Mission was later moved to a more favorable location on the Guadalupe River.  The Mission was moved again in 1749 to La Bahia, now the town of Goliad.  Just across the river is the historic birthplace of Ignacio Zaragoza, a general in the Mexican army known for the defeat of French Forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5^th, 1862.  Cinco de Mayo is now celebrated in both Mexico and the US as recognition of his historic victory.

Tomorrow we’ll continue NE through Houston, around Galveston Bay and end up in far east Texas near the Louisiana state line around Beaumont.  More from there…