These two markers, one placed by the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1918 to mark the route of the El Camino Real in Texas and the other placed later to preserve the memory of the site of The Mission Santissimo Nombre de Maria stand at the western end of the SH 21 bridge over the Neches River in Cherokee County TX.
The DAR marker reads as follows:
"KING'S HIGHWAY
CAMINO REAL
Old San Antonio Road
Marked by the
Daughters of the
American Revolution
and the State of Texas
A. D. 1918"
And the state marker reads:
"Mission Santissimo Nombre de Maria
Was founded in this vicinity summer 1690 "on the banks of the Arcangel San Miguel" (Neches) River. Erected A.D. 1934 by De Zavala Chapter, Texas Historical and Landmarks Association.
Located by: Dr. Albert Woldert, Tyler, Texas; Miss Adina De Zavala, San Antonio, Texas. Assisted by Mr. J.M. Lovell, Augusta, Texas."
From the Handbook of Texas online: (
visit link)
"Robert S. Weddle
SANTÍSIMO NOMBRE DE MARÍA MISSION. In late summer 1690 Fray Francisco Casañas de Jesús María founded Mission Santísimo Nombre de María for the Nabedache Indians of the Hasinai confederacy. Santísimo Nombre, second only to San Francisco de los Tejas Mission in eastern Texas, was on the Neches River in an area that is now part of Houston County, some twelve miles from the first mission. Like Mission San Francisco, Santísimo Nombre de María suffered an epidemic and other hardships. The natives' response to the missionaries' teachings was negative. In the fall of 1691 Governor Domingo Terán de los Ríos arrived at Santísimo Nombre, having first visited Mission San Francisco, and left from there for a trip to Matagorda Bay to meet his supply ships. Upon returning, he explored the Neches River in the vicinity of the mission. He departed thence on November 6 to visit the Kadodacho Indians near the site of present Texarkana and returned on December 30, near exhaustion from his nightmarish march in bitter weather. In January 1692 as Terán withdrew toward the ships at Matagorda Bay, Mission Santísimo Nombre de María was destroyed by the flooding Neches River. The missionaries returned to Mission San Francisco."
From the Texas Historical Commission: (
visit link)
"History of State of Texas Historical Markers
The State of Texas first commemorated a historical site in 1856 by contributing to marking graves at the San Jacinto battleground. In 1858, the Legislature bought an existing Alamo monument, built in 1841 with stones gathered from the battle site. William Nangle and Joseph Cox of San Antonio designed the ten-foot high pyramid on a square pedestal to be portable, and it traveled to Houston, New Orleans and Austin. After the state acquired the monument it was moved to the Capitol, and ultimately destroyed in the 1881 fire that razed that building.
. . .
From 1915-18, the State of Texas and the Daughters of the American Revolution together placed 123 pink granite markers about every five miles along the King’s Highway, also known as Camino Real or Old San Antonio Road, the trail blazed in 1690 by Alonso de Leon. Surveyor V. N. Zively mapped the route through south, central and east Texas. Most of these markers are still intact."