Bornstein chronicles natural beauty of historic Old San Antonio Road

What little remains of the epic Old San Antonio Road is truly amazing. Following the surviving sections of this great historic route through central Texas is like an experience back into time. Once the main migratory path of ancient hunter/gathers, it follows an incredible divide in the naturally occurring topography.

The roadway follows the divide between the Texas Hill Country and the vast central prairie stretching all the way down to the coastal plain and the Gulf of Mexico. The path follows the edge formed by the limestone Balconies Escarpment and most likely was a migratory route for the vast herds of Buffalo (and some woolly mammoths) that once followed the changes of the seasons. The route passes within yards of the San Marcos Spring Lake, one of the oldest continuously inhabited sites in all of North America (see text below.)

A few stately homesteads still remain along the roadway in places.

Large impressive ranches line the sides. Cattle still graze within sight of the interstate. 

Because of the recent nearby highway construction (SR 130 and SR 45), huge tracts of land have recently gone up for sale for large retail development.

Old workshops and simple wooden frame homes speak out from a distant era when this part of Texas was basically rural with small businesses and towns attending to the needs of local ranches and farms.

Occasional low water crossings, spanned by simple 100 year old bridges are still natural and pristine. Quick glimpses out of the side window show a natural beauty incredibly within earshot of one of the nation's major arteries.

The Spanish logically followed the same routes as they explored, conquered and built agricultural based missions throughout their colony all the way up into to Louisiana. The remaining roadway, much of which became Interstate I-35, follows the lay of the land. Meandering over and around hills and crossing rivers and dry creek beds, it even feels ancient.

Come and take a short ride with me along the Old San Antonio Road. Hear the wind as the car follows the winding path

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The epic 1836 battle at San Antonio's old abandoned mission, the Alamo, has forever associated the City with a residual feeling of both loss and pride. Songwriters for over a hundred and seventy five years have maintained a aura of its tragedy.

A little musical interlude.

Ballard about San Antonio by singer/songwriter Hal Ketchum with harmonies by Leann Rines.

San Antonio and this roadway are firmly part of Texas folk lore and continue to be the subject of ballads, novels and movies. The love of the open spaces and the pervasive car culture combined with the proximity of the Mexican border have enshrined the area's roads as part of the the Central Texas mindset. It's as if San Antonio is doomed to always be a place one is going to, or coming from.

Crossing under I-35 brings the traveler into another world. The vast prairie stretches on to the horizon. Cattle graze while abandoned barns and old derelict homes await the approaching cookie cutter residential developments springing up all along the San Antonio - Austin corridor.

The wind and the broad vistas work together to create a sense of freedom and a loneliness that have undoubtedly contributed to the distinctive Texas personality.

The few remaining ranchers are holdouts against the unstoppable needs of a growing population. Add to that, the obvious global climate change and long term drought (which seems to show no early abatement) appears to have doomed the regions historical character. 

The underground aquifer, although extensive, is under tremendous threat. The main problem is the modern home owner's penchant for green lawns and San Augustine Grass which in summer consume over 65% of the region's available water resources.

The Old San Antonio Road calls to us from both an ancient and more recent past. Are we oblivious to our mistakes of over and inappropriate development? Or are we just interested in short term profits and not our responsibilities as custodians and stewards of our fragile ecosystem.

An historic perspective

The Old San Antonio Road (sometimes called "El Camino Real" or "King's Highway") was a historic roadway located in the U.S. states of Texas and Louisiana. Parts of it were based on traditional Native American trails. Its Texas terminus was about 35 miles (56 km) southeast of Eagle Pass at the Rio Grande in Maverick County, and its northern terminus was at Natchitoches, Louisiana. The road continued from Texas through Monclova to Mexico City.

Spanish Colonial Period - Texas U.S. Statehood

In 1689, Spaniard Alonso de Leon led an expedition from Mexico to explore Texas and establish missions and presidios in the region. The Camino Real severed as the main colonial trading and military route extending north all the way to Natchtoches in Louisiana passing through the historic Texas settlements of Nacogdoches and San Augustine.

In 1689, Spaniard Alonso de Leon led an expedition from Mexico to explore Texas and establish missions and presidios in the region. The Camino Real severed as the main colonial trading and military route extending north all the way to Natchtoches in Louisiana passing through the historic Texas settlements of Nacogdoches and San Augustine.

After the Civil War, the name Camino Arriba faded and the road was called the Old San Antonio Road. By the 1870s, with the coming of the railroad, the roadway between San Antonio and Mexico, had all but disappeared. It was then called the Lower Presidio Road.

Prehistoric - Clovis period – 10,000 BC.

Aquarena Springs

The Old San Antonio Road passes within yards of the San Marcos Spring Lake (Aquarena Springs.) Founded on the banks of the San Marcos River, the area is considered to be among the oldest continuously inhabited sites in the Northern Hemisphere.[6] San Marcos is home to Texas State University–San Marcos, and the Aquarena Center.

Archeologists have found evidence at the San Marcos River associated with the Clovis culture, which suggests that the river has been the site of human habitation for more than 10,000 years. The headwaters of the cool, clear river are the San Marcos Springs, fed by the Edwards Aquifer. The San Marcos Springs are the third largest collection of springs in Texas. Never in recorded history has the river run dry (which almost happened during this current drought.)

Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca

First European to explore Texas in 1528

Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca during his wandering in Texas 1527.

Cabeza de Vaca's possible travel route 1527- 1536

Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca (Jerez de la Frontera, c. 1488/1490 – Seville, c. 1557/1558) was a Spanish explorer of the New World, one of four survivors of the 1527 Narváez expedition. During eight years of traveling across the Southwest, he became a slave, trader and shaman to various Native American tribes before reconnecting with Spanish colonial forces in Mexico in 1536. After returning to Spain in 1537, he wrote an account, first published in 1542 as La Relación ("The Relation", or in more modern terms "The Account"[1]), which in later editions was retitled Naufragios ("Shipwrecks"). Cabeza de Vaca has been considered notable as a proto-anthropologist for his detailed accounts of the many tribes of American Indians that he encountered.