Goliad Texas

A tornado in 1902 demolished a large swath of Goliad. The tornedo destroyed a newly constructed bridge. One iron beam flew almost a mile and landed only a block from the courthouse. The story is that they tried to remove the beam, but it was so deep that it remains to this day where you can see it in someone’s back yard. We heard this story at the local museum; otherwise no one seems to talk about it. Fascinating!

The death toll was over 100 and is listed as the 11^th most deadly tornedo in the U.S. One church collapsed and killed all 50 people inside. There is a mass burial for them in a nearby cemetery.

The downtown museum itself was great. It’s just a few rooms of stuff, but the history and stories that go with it are amazing.  The pictures shows equipment that made brooms including ones long enough to sweep the ceilings of cobwebs.

Near town is the Fannin Battlefield where the battle was fought (in 1836) until Fannin surrendered. There is an iron press screw from a nearby cotton gin that marks the spot where the Texans fought. It was marked by the screw in 1894 so that the spot wouldn’t be lost over time. Later, an obelisk was placed nearby the site. The wildflowers are gorgeous right now.

We’ve been going geocaching around the area. There are quite a few in cemeteries (which I love visiting anyhow). This cemeteries had what I thought was a toy on the wall. Turns out it’s a water sprinkler that moves using water pressure. Not sure why it’s on the wall, but interesting looking.

This cemetery had a different type of stone used for many of the gravestones. I’m not sure if it is a swirled type of granite or marble. The cool part was that some the pictures show a ghost above the grave. OK, it’s a sunbeam. But I didn’t know I was taking a picture of the sunbeam until I saw the picture.