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Old Jan 14, 2011, 8:28 am
  #7  
TMOliver
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Central Texas
Programs: Many, slipping beneath the horizon
Posts: 9,859
Originally Posted by Mr. Vker
Thank you I am checking Missions National Park right now.
Given the time, and an afternoon is adequate, a drive down the "Mission Trail" with stops is certainly worth the effort, a bird's eye view of a part of American history little known to most and unappreciated by many.

As for the Alamo, a couple of comments....

From the Plaza, it looks much smaller than anticipated, far less than "imposing", and the city having grown up around it prevents an adequate view of what it "may" have looked and been in 1836. Because of the unusual fashion in which it has been preserved and maintained (not the state or the federal government, but the "Daughters of the Republic of Texas"), much of what you see may seem clumsily done and amateurish. The scale models and plans inside do provide some clue to its "original' appearance, but it was already abandoned and ruinous in 1836.

For many (especially Texans like I with ancestors who had already "come to Texas" before the Revolution or to participate in it), the Alamo is a "Sacred Place", a part of mythology as much as history, to be viewed by us (and as we expect others to emulate) with reverence, caps off, voices subdued. Quaint? Yes, especially when one realizes that among those who defended it were some legendary "Heroes", well known names, of somewhat less than sterling character, antecedents, and activities.

.....And don't fail to note (instead of being overcome by a tide of retrospective ethnic issues) that there were "Mexicans" among its defenders, also, locals who espoused and joined the Anglo "Texicans" in revolting against the Mexican government.

Just down the street is the old Menger Hotel, the guest list of which includes Robert E. Lee and a host of US Army officers prominent on both sides during the WBTS and in the era afterwards. The small bar, mostly original, is the site of COL Theodore Roosevelt's 1898 recruitment of many of the "Rough Riders". My grandfather, then a student at aTm, hopped a freight to San Antonio and enlisted there. I generally stop by for a beer, Shiner Bock, in his/their memory. Nearby is Schilos's deli, almost as historic, a good place for a second glass of beer and a sandwich.
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