San Antonio, Texas - Part Four

One of the most beautiful urban settings in the world, the San Antonio River Walk has delighted millions of visitors to the beautiful old Texas city.

For hundreds of years the San Antonio River was a vital water source for the community of San Antonio and the Indian villages that existed at the site before the arrival of the Spanish soldiers and missionaries. Not only did the river provide drinking water, it was also a source for irrigation of fields planed along its banks.

Over the years, though, the river also brought its share of misery to San Antonio. Annual floods caused great hardships and at times left death and destruction in their wake. In 1921, for example, a horrible flood killed more than 50 people in San Antonio and left millions of dollars of damage in its wake. The flood also left behind a desire on the part of the people of San Antonio to do something about the remarkable, but deadly, natural resource that flowed through their city.

After much debate, the dream of architect Robert H.H. Hugman to create a waterfront that he thought could rival the beauty of the Italian city of Venice became the driving force behind the San Antonio River Walk project.

The River Walk now encompasses 13 miles of land on both sides of the river, right through the heart of downtown San Antonio. Not only does it link numerous historic sites, it also provides a center for entertainment, art, dining, shopping and more.

To learn more about this remarkable free attraction in the heart of historic San Antonio, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/sariverwalk.

San Antonio, Texas - Part One

This week we'll be looking closer at the magnificent and historic city of San Antonio, Texas.

Founded on the site of earlier Indian villages during the early 1700s, San Antonio holds a special place in both Southern and American history. Established by the Spanish as a mission center and presidio (fort), the city was already over 100 years old by the time of the Texas Revolution in 1835-1836. The remains of five beautiful old Spanish missions can still be seen in San Antonio, as can the historic "Spanish Governor's Palace" which appears to have been completed in 1749.

San Antonio, of course, was the scene of a monumental battle during the Texas Revolution when a small band of heroes defended the Alamo, a fortified old mission, against an also brave but overwhelming Mexican army led by General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. The Alamo fell on March 6, 1836 and the bodies of such noted American frontiersmen as Jim Bowie, David Crockett and William B. Travis were found in the rubble. They chose to go down fighting rather than surrender (Note: Please click here to read more about the true facts of Crockett's death).

The chapel and long barrack of the Alamo still stand in the heart of downtown San Antonio and the remains of the Alamo heroes are enshrined at the nearby San Fernando Cathedral.

There are many other points of historic interest in San Antonio, among them the Alamo Cenotaph and the city's famed River Walk. To learn more about this wonderful city, please check back over the coming days. Until then you can read more by visiting our new San Antonio pages at www.exploresouthernhistory.com/sanantonio.