Back Road Whispers: BIG TREES AND LITTLE CHURCHES

The last morning of the trip we decided to go visit Lamar, a community founded in 1839 at Lookout Point at the entrance to Copano Bay. The earliest inhabitants were the Karankawa Indians who would occasionally protect the settlers from the Comanches. It is a birder's paradise, the home of hundreds of species, and is a beautiful part of Texas. During the Civil War, the Union troops bombarded Lamar and it was largely destroyed by fire. Only a few structures, all made of shellcrete survived. Slowly the community has come back and today (well as of the 2000 census) the population is 1600.

One of the draws was the big tree. I expected big but not this big. Information from the sign in front of the tree is below....

THE GOOSE ISLAND OAK

Trunk circumference: 35 feet 1 3/4 inches 10.71 meters

Average trunk diameter: 11 feet 2 1/4 inches 3.41 meters

Crown spread: 89 feet 27.1 meters

Height: 44 feet 13.4 meters

Age: In excess of 1000 years

Other Names:

Quercus Virginiana Miller

Live oak

Coastal live oak

Virginia live oak

Texas State Champion Live Oak (since 1966)

Big tree

Lamar Oak – The port town of Lamar was established her in 1838. A Union naval bombardment in 1865 started fires which largely destroyed it.

Welcome to my home.

I am a live oak tree and I am very old. I have seen spring return more than a thousand times. I can remember hundreds of hurricanes, most I would rather forget, but I withstood. There was a big fire once. I hate fire.

Around me are my offspring. We are an old-dune woodland community. We provide shelter and acorns for squirrels, jays, raccoons, bobwhite, deer, javelina, and most other members of our community. For most of my life I belonged only to myself. Now I belong to you, or so I am told. Humpf! Branch breakers and root tramplers the lot of you!

Some years ago someone came and patched my cracks, trimmed my dead branches, killed my pests, and healed my fungus rots. Was that you? I’m feeling much better, thank you.

I am tired now, you may leave me in peace when you are ready to go. Please leave my home as you found it. I have important things to do. The seasons are changing again and I must get ready.

The big tree was very prolific and filled the area around it with babies.

The little trees, children of the big one and their canopies.

Close by the big tree was Stella Maris, originally known as St. Joseph's Chapel. It was one of the survivors of the bombardment and was was moved to this location. The church is small and can only accommodate 20 people. Unfortunately when we visited it the doors were locked (another soapbox I can get on...the necessity of locking church doors due to some mean and idiotic people).

Texas State Historical Marker

Stella Maris Chapel

Irish immigrant James W. Byrne (1787-1865), a veteran of the Texas Revolution, was an early settler of this area. He established the town of Lamar and with his wife Harriet, sold land on Aransas Bay to the Catholic Church for a chapel site. Byrne engaged a French architect to design the structure, which was completed in 1858, called Stella Maris (Star of the Sea) chapel. It was built of shellcrete, a shell-aggregate masonry. An important link with the area’s early Roman Catholic heritage, the chapel was moved to this site in 1986.

As you can see the grounds were immaculate, well tended and peaceful as a church yard should be. The little angel above reminded me so much of a friend's granddaughter who loves to make nature discoveries and even resembles the angel. That is a bird she is holding, unfortunately the sun glare messed it up.

A piece of theshellcrete footing of the chapel that broke off when it was being moved.

Next to Stella Maris is the Lamar Cemetery, established in 1854, a historical landmark and one of the most picturesque cemeteries in the territory.

There are many interesting grave sites here, and to a ghoul like me it is eye candy for sure. A couple of them worth noting are those of John Fagan and J. B. Wells.

John Fagan was a soldier in the Texas Revolution at the Battle and Massacre of Goliad.

J. B. Wells, was of Puritan lineage, educated in schools in the northeast and a merchant marine. He sailed the Red and the Mississippi Rivers when he learned of the Texas Revolution. He rallied together a small force of men and joined in the war. With his sea experience he joined the Texas Navy after the Battle of San Jacinto and is best known for the destruction of a Mexican supply depot at Cox's Point. He became a cattle rancher in his later life and he and his wife are the parents of Jim Wells, a very active Democrat in the valley region. Jim Wells County is named in the son's honor.

The tour complete, complete with a cache (GC2A9KP) which was a bonus! Off we went to lunch before saying good bye...don't judge a book by its cover, the food is good. If you need to use the restroom, be prepared to wander through the service area and around the corner down a step through a door outside and to the right...giveyourself plenty of time...LOL.