Tour buses queued up at the visitor’s center at the Washington-on-the-Brazos State Park. Private vehicles parked in temporary spaces in pastures as the first cannonade from the Texas Army boomed over the rolling hills of the surrounding countryside.
It was here on a freezing March 2 in 1836 that 59 Texans met in a drafty wood-frame structure to draft and sign a declaration of independence while Santa Anna’s Army held the Alamo under siege.
That original building is now long gone but a replica sits in the exact spot.
Visitors came this year to see the place where freedom rang and to listen to an oral history of the account by Francis “Brownie” Brown. Attired in period garb, Brown portrays the role of the Rev. William Carrol Crawford, the longest surviving signer of the document who died at age 91 in 1895.
Earl Shanks from LaPorte portrayed a member of the Texas Army wearing homespun and buckskin and carrying a muzzleloading musket.
Shanks said as long as there are Texans they will have that Texas attitude.
“It’s recognizable worldwide,” said Shanks with a Texas drawl. “It hasn’t changed since 1820 and it won’t change. That’s how they fought off cougars, Indians and won the revolution.”
Shanks said it had a lot to do with wanting to be free.
“And to doing pretty well what they wanted to do,” Shanks said. “That’s how it all started.”
Shanks said acting the role of early Texians at events does something deep inside.
“It give you a rush to your heart that’s hard to explain.”
He said when his group fires the cannon at the annual re-enactment at San Jacinto and the Texas Army comes charging through the flume of smoke it sends chills clear to the toes.
Tom Haynie, 59, of Navasota attended with his daughter, Lee Ann Haynie.
“I have come to the birthday almost every March 2 for 32 years,” Haynie said “I have a great respect for early Texans for the great sacrifices they made and the courage it took to be an early Texan. They endured drought, famine, hard times, fighting Indians and fighting for independence. They are an amazing people.”
Jayson Clayborn, 31, and Alyson Clayborn, 28, of Friendswood said they don’t have roots that go back to early Texas, but they both enjoy history.
“And this is not far from home,” Jayson said. “We saw it in the newspaper and decided to come.”
Saturday, visitors to the park strolled between pavilions to view exhibits of Texana.
At the Star of the Republic Museum, the works of John J. Audubon went on exhibit for the first time with line drawings and lithographs of mammals.
In the museum’s theater, actors Bob Heinonen and Elizabeth Seibert portrayed the roles of Stephen F. Austin, the Father of Texas, and Mary Austin Holley, Austin’s cousin who wrote the first history of Texas, in the early afternoon. At a later performance they played the roles of William Barret Travis, who fought and died at the Alamo, and Susanna Dickenson, the only Anglo survivor of the Battle of the Alamo.
Festivities continue today with book signings, re-enactments, tours of exhibits and the cutting of a Texas-sized birthday cake.
Refreshments of every kind are available from vendors, and musicians play period instruments.
Fees for tours of all exhibits are waived this one weekend of the years, said Bill Irwin, park spokesman.
“We were blessed with perfect weather so everyone can enjoy,” he said.
The park opens at 10:30 a.m. today and events continue until 4 p.m.
To go there from Bell County take U.S. 190 south to Cameron, then Texas 36 south through Caldwell and Somerville to Brenham.
In Brenham take Texas 105 east to FM 1155 and turn right into the park.
hclark@temple-telegram.com
