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| Landmark #8 | Presidio County | Visited: October 1, 2018 | Plaque? YES! 🙂 |
| What is it? | A roadside plaque out of Marfa! |
| What makes it historical? | THE PLAQUE SAYS: At confluence of Concho and Rio Grande Rivers. A settlement for over 10,000 years. Site of first recorded wagon train crossing into Texas, December 10, 1582, headed by Antonio de Espejo. Marker placed jointly by Texas Society, Children of the American Revolution, Texas Society, Daughters of the American Colonists. (1961)
OTHER TIDBITS: To knowledge, native farmers started cultivating this area around 1500 B.C. and did so uninterrupted until the first Spanish explorers, led by Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, arrived on the scene in 1535! They called the village at this site La Junta de las Cruces, but that name was not to last either. In 1582, Antonio de Espejo renamed it San Juan Evangelista, in 1681 it became La Junta de los Ríos, and in 1683, it changed again to La Navidad en Las Cruces! In 1830, the name changed again to Presidio del Norte for the Spanish penal colony and military base that had been set up here 70 years prior. It’s stayed that way through the immigration of U.S. settlers that started in 1848 after the Mexican-American War and remains the seat of Presidio County, Texas! |
| How can I Help the Helpers? | HERE’S HOW:
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| How do I find it? | Listed Directions: 1/2 mile E. of Marfa (with Presidio County markers) Annotations: From Austin: ~428mi (689km) — 7.2hrs |
| When should I go? | Whenever the mood strikes you! |