Years ago, while living in Dime Box, TX and working for the Lee County Surveyor, I became interested in the OSR - Old San Antonio Road (AKA El Camino Real.)
The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) commissioned V N Zivley to map the old road from the Sabine to the Rio Grand rivers for posterity. This old Spanish road is the oldest route across Texas and could (should) be considered to be the first Texas highway.
Mr. Zivley was the Lampasas County surveyor about 1900, he and his wife had 10 children. They are buried in the Lampasas City cemetery.
The old road from the Sabine River to San Antonio by which thousands of Anglos entered Texas was a straightforward retracement effort. San Antonio to the Rio Grande was a different matter. The diary of a Franciscan priest named Morfi, who visited the Spanish Missions, was invaluable. There is a small statue of Father Morfi adjacent to Zivley's footstone
After Mr. Zivley completed his assignment the DAR had granite monuments placed along the way. There are 125 markers along the 500 mile route as noted on the 1st map of this blog. Some are getting hard to find
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The State of Texas and National Park Service have designated signage and brochures to raise awareness of what is now branded as the El Camino Real de los Tejas.
Tracy and I have lived in Lampasas starting on five years now and until recently we had no idea that a personal hero of mine - Van Nieman Zivley, surveyor of the 1st Texas Road, was buried in the local cemetery.
HAPPY TRAILS
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