My Mother and I recently traveled
to Quihi, Texas to visit Eldora.
Eldora is my late grandfather's younger sister.
We had such a great time!
I hadn't been to San Antonio since
I was 5, so I didn't remember much about it.
We got off the plane in San Antonio and went
to eat lunch at The Quarry.
After lunch, we went to the Alamo!
The Alamo was originally the Mission
San Antonio de Valero. It served as home
to missionaries and their Indian converts
for about 70 years. Construction began
on the site in 1724. In the early 1800s,
the Spanish military stationed a cavalry unit there.
The soldiers referred to it as the Alamo,
which is Spanish for cottonwood, in honor of
their hometown Alamo de Parras, Coahuila.
San Antonio and the Alamo played
a critical role in the Texas Revolution.
Following a 13 day siege (Feb 23 - Mar 6, 1836),
the Mexican Army launched an assault on the Alamo,
killing its defenders. (There were roughly 1500 troops
in the Mexican Army and only 300 Texian defenders)
Santa Anna's cruelty during the battle inspired
many Texians to join the Texian Army.
The Texians defeated the Mexican Army in
April 1836 at the Battle of San Jacinto,
ending the Texas Revolution.
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| Me and Eldora at the Alamo |
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| Me, Mom and Eldora at the Alamo |
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| Me, Mom, and Eldora at the Alamo |
After our visit to the Alamo,
we went to the Riverwalk. It's beautiful.
There are so many places to eat and
some fun little shops to look in.
It was too cold to take a boat ride.
Maybe next time.
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| The San Antonio Riverwalk |
Our next stop was to
the Briscoe Western Art Museum.
They had some beautiful art, sculptures,
and historic artifacts. We enjoyed it.
They had a really neat miniature version
of the Alamo, depicting the battle,
and a great collection of
horse saddles and boot spurs.
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| In front of The Briscoe Western Art Museum |
After a full day of exploring
San Antonio, we met Lesley and Randy
for dinner at LaGloria. (Lesley is Eldora's
daughter, and Randy is Lesley's fiancé)
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| Dinner at LaGloria |
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| Mom, Lesley, Randy, Eldora, and Me |
Eldora lives in a cute little house
about 45 minutes from San Antonio,
in a town called Quihi. Quihi was
established on Quihi Lake in 1845 by Henri Castro
and named for the white-necked Mexican
eagle buzzard, the quichie or keechie. In
March of 1846, 10 families of Alsatian
immigrants from Castro's colony arrived at the site
and erected shelters. Within a week of their arrival,
Indian raiders killed two of the families,
and the settlers erected a brush fortification as
defense against further incursions.
Indian raids continued to plague the
settlement until the 1870s.
Today, the estimated population is around 100.
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| Eldora, feeding her cats (there are several) |
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| The Guest Room, where my mother and I stayed |
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| The living room |
On Saturday, we took a tour around Quihi.
We drove around since it was cold and rainy.
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| Driving down a gravel road in Quihi |
We stopped at the Bethlehem Lutheran Church,
which was organized in 1852.
This is the church Eldora attends, so
we were able to attend a service on Sunday.
The church has beautiful stained glass windows.
Next to the church, there is a cemetery
with some pretty old headstones.
Most of the headstone markings
were not in English.
Most of the headstone markings
were not in English.
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| At the cemetery, freezing and getting drizzled on in my house shoes. |
Lesley joined us after lunch and
we drove to Castroville, Texas.
Castroville is also known as the Little Alsace of Texas.
170 years ago, Henri Castro, for whom the
town is named, recruited European emigrant
settlers to the area from Alsace, a region of France,
to fulfill his contract to colonize vacant Texas land.
Calling themselves Alsatians, they were mostly of
German descent speaking an ancient Alamanic
language that pre-dates standard German and French.
Castroville was the first town colonized on the Medina River.
It was established in September of 1844.
More than 300 structures have been
preserved in this area.
Our first stop in Castroville was
the Steinbach Haus. It was originally
built between 1618 and 1648 by the
Steinbach family. The house stood in the
village of Wahlbach, France. In 1998 the
disassembled house was shipped to Texas
and erected in Castroville. The house was
a gift to the people of Castroville from the
people of Alsace, the region in eastern
France where so many of the ancestors
of present-day Medina County emigrated from
in the mid-1840s.
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| Steinbach Haus |
St. Louis Catholic Church was built in 1868-1870.
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| St. Louis Catholic Church |
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| St. Louis Catholic Church |
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| St. Louis Catholic Church |
We drove around looking at all of the neat Alsatian
houses and then did a little antique shopping.
I finally found myself an Underwood Typewriter.
It will look beautiful in our study.
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| Eldora's House |
Sunday morning, we got up
and went to church at the Bethlehem
Lutheran Church in Quihi. We got to
witness two sweet little kids take their
first communion. After church, we went to
lunch at the Hideaway Restaurant and Bar
at the Alsatian Resort and Golf Cub.
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| Me, Lesley, Eldora, and Mom in the living room before church |
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| On the front porch before church |
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| Alsatian building on Eldora's property - used to be a store. |
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| Alsatian building on Eldora's property - used to be a store. |
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| Side view of the house |
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| Cute little shed |
We really enjoyed our time spent
with family. We will look forward
to visiting again in the future.
