Kings Highway
N 31° 17.787 W 095° 29.802
15R E 262355 N 3465147
#29 King Highway DAR pink granite marker was placed in 1918 along the ancient El Camino Real, AKA: El Camino Real de los Tejas, Kings Highway, and/or Old San Antonio Road. It is west of Crockett, TX on SH-21.
Waymark Code: WMP0JN
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 06/04/2015
Views: 15
The highway known as the Kings Highway or El Camino Real is really a series of trails that meandered and shifted over time and as needs changed for the travelers. However, it stayed within a generally consistent direction and overall location. The trail throughout Texas can be called the El Camino Real, El Camino Real de los Tejas, Old San Antonio Road (OSR), Royal Road, and Kings Highway. While other old mission trails in other states are also referred to as El Camino Reals, this marker is in the context of the path connecting Mexico City to what is now Natchitoches, Louisiana. Within Texas, a few other labels are sometimes used when referencing the El Camino Real, such as the San Antonio to Nacogdoches Road; or, from during the Civil War, the Camino Arriba.
The DAR set pink granite markers along a major portion of the El Camino Real de los Tejas in 1918. Those that still exist today are still visible along State Highway 21 and the State Highway OSR which are both documented as covering large portions of the El Camino Real de los Tejas trails. The Texas legislature declared the Old San Antonio Road as a Texas historical trail. This marker is not only one of the surviving markers remaining, but is one of only two actually listed in the Texas Historical Commission atlas within the 13 Texas counties from San Antonio (Bexar County) to Nacogdoches (Nacogdoches County). There are more than two of these markers still extant along SH 21 and the OSR, they just do not have numbered in the THC atlas.
This one does have a listing with THC. It is located next to a small community of businesses and homes just a few miles down SH 21 after it splits off from SH 7 on the western edge of Crockett, TX. It is set in a slab of concrete close to a metal fence made of sections of pipe and is on the east side of the intersection of SH 21 and CR 3300.
Surprisingly, another sister marker is found just a bit farther west, probably about 5 miles from this one, since the DAR spaced the markers five miles apart. It is also one of the DAR/State of Texas sister markers of 1918, but has no THC atlas number assigned.
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