On Saturday, October 12, 2019 the Rancheria Grande Chapter
of the El Camino Real de los Tejas National Historic Trail Association
conducted a tour of several significant, certified sites along the El Camino
Real in Milam County.
Local history buffs John Pruett and Geri Burnett discussed county and trail history along the route.
The tour started in Cameron at 9:00am and ended back in Cameron at the Milam County Museum at 5pm.
Dr. Alston Thoms, Professor of Anthropology at A&M, and
Dave Cunningham provided rich and insightful commentary about Sugarloaf
Mountain and the surrounding area.
Dave Cunningham
The Tour began with an introduction by Dave Cunningham on
the Sugarloaf Bridge as well as a brief history of the area. Sugarloaf Mountain is privately owned and permission is needed for tours/hikes.
This past weekend our Chapter members were busy learning and sharing what they learned.
The Chapter members who are also members of the El Camino Real de las Tejas National Trail Association attended their conference on Friday and Saturday. They shared our new wildflowers of Milam County brochure with all the attendees. (I was unable to go, so I don’t have any photos.)
Viewing the photos of the land conference attendees got to see in person.
Yesterday they did field trips of Milam County sites that were on the trail, including the property of Joyce and Mike Conner, Cedar Hill Ranch, which has some important sites on it. They also went to Sugarloaf Mountain and Rancheria Grande. Many thanks to our chapter members who volunteered to help out with the tour.
Chapter members tell a visitor about what we do.
Meanwhile, other members put together a lovely exhibit of plant samples for the herbarium that members of our group helped collect. It was located at the at the Milam County Historical Museum.
Plant samples for use in herbaria.
There was also a display of beautiful photographs Christopher Talbot’s A Photographic Journey of the Trail exhibit. The photos were quite impressive, including a photo of the Graham Swale that Ann Collins and Connie Anderle claimed was theirs, because they are from the Graham family. So yes, fun was had.
Ann Collins and her “family swale.”
Ann, Donna, Linda Jo, and Scott did a great job answering questions and passing out material. After the tour was over, the trail conference attendees came to enjoy the exhibits. Lots of people came in, since the Steak, Stein and Wine Fest was also going on. It was a fine way to do some outreach, and the weather was just perfect.
Nature Along the El Camino Real 