They’re going whole hog at Barrington Living History Farm next month. On January 14 & 15 they’ll present a hog butchering and curing program to the public.

05—Butchering is just one part of many things that we do seasonally throughout the year.

Barb King is a park interpreter at the farm, located at Washington-on-the-Brazos SHS. The program takes place outdoors in January just as would have happened in 1850s rural Texas.

15—So, all the meat that will be produced, and the sausage and the fat that we will save for soap or cooking all needs to be at a constant temperature, which is cold—like your fridge—so that we can start the curing process without worrying about it spoiling.

The public will not witness staff dispatch the Ossabaw Island Hog: a heritage breed. But after that, Barb says the rest is for public view. And while this is primarily a demonstration…

18—People are able to do a tiny bit if they choose—like helping us scrape the hogs. But cutting up the carcass into specific portions of meat is only done by staff. A lot of people come right at 10, and we normally have a big group waiting. And then on Sunday, we focus on more of the preservation aspect.

Visitors may return Sunday to see how staff cures the meat for storage. The butchering and curing program at Barrington Living History Farm is January 14 & 15, beginning at 10 a.m. both days. Find complete details at texasstateparks.org.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Life in rural 1850s Texas wasn’t the simple existence you might imagine. There wasn’t a grocery store or drive through fast food restaurant on every corner. Eating… was an exercise in long-range planning.

11—One part of being a farmer, not only is growing what you’re going to need to eat today, or tomorrow or the day after. But you’re projecting ahead, maybe six months or a year.

Barb King is a park interpreter at Barrington Living History Farm at Washington-on-the-Brazos. The farm belonged to Anson Jones, the last president of the Republic of Texas. Yet, being president didn’t mean Jones was on easy-street.

23—Even for this family, which is upper middle class, they’re still worried about survival on a more intimate basis than we are. You know, just even getting hot water is a chore, not only in hauling, but then you have to heat it up. So, all the daily chores that we have today, required and a lot more forethought—as well as just physical labor. Men, women and children—everybody was working towards family survival.

Dispatching livestock and then curing the meat for use throughout the year was a chore that rural Texas families performed during cold months, because they lacked mechanical refrigeration. Next month visitors to Barrington Living History Farm have an opportunity to witness parts of that process.

02—We get a lot of interest in this event.

And if you’re interested, we’ll have details tomorrow.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

We have something in common with early Texans.

06—Christmas and the month of December—in large part—was the time when Texans gathered.

Cynthia Brandimarte is program director for Texas historic sites. Unlike today when a short trip by car or plane will get us to our holiday destination, travel was difficult for early Texans.

09—And so when you traveled, you tended to stay. People had time at Christmas to do that—to travel and spend weeks.

Which makes the few days that most of us get off at Christmas seem like a rip off. And early Texans made good use of this block of time.

08—It was then that they celebrated not only Christmas, but other special events, and planned weddings for the month of December.

Since Texas was mostly rural in the 19th and early 20th Centuries, and there wasn’t a lot of farming that could happen in December…

15—It almost gave 19th Century and early 20th Century rural Texans an excuse not to work. And thus to play a bit more, and socialize a bit more, than they had time to do many other months of the year.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

The custom of decorating trees for Christmas took root in German villages during the sixteenth century.

07—A lot of Germans, as you know, settled Texas. And they brought a tradition with them of the tabletop Christmas tree.

Cynthia Brandimarte is program director for Texas historic sites.

12—When you look at interior photographs of Texas houses, you see many tabletop Christmas trees ornamented for the season, particularly in German households in the late nineteenth century Texas.

Ornaments were handmade then, and small gifts often dangled from branches. Eventually, the tabletop conifer gave way to larger trees that became “floor models,” and the decorations sometimes mirrored the day’s events.

22—You saw more and more seven or eight feet trees that were placed on the floor. And because we had just ended the Spanish American war in victory, there was a fashion in the early part of the twentieth century to decorate trees with a few American flags here and there. We have photographic evidence for that.

What kinds of ornaments will hang from your tree this year? Tell us about it at passportotexas.org.

That’s our show… we record our series at the The Block House in Austin, Texas, and For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Experience the holidays the way 19th Century German settlers did when you take part in an Early German Christmas at Monument Hill and Kriesche Brewery State Historic Site in La Grange. Bryan Frazier has details.

That part of Texas has such a history with the German influence, so they’re calling it An Early German Christmas. And every year, they light up a quarter-mile hiking trail for night walks.

Absolutely. They typically do period costumes and they’re really dressed up nice. So, you’ve got everyone getting in the Christmas spirit in general, and then to see it circa 1850s with the history there, and the interpretation programs they have and the lighted trail…it’s really nice.

Thanks Bryan,

Find more information www.texasstateparks.org.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

If you’re ready for a long road trip, head west—and then go south…and then south some more…until you reach Presidio, Texas, where you’ll be treated to a celebration at Ft. Leaton State Historic Site. Bryan Frazier, our state park guide, joins us with details.

This time of year in Texas, for the most part, the weather is really mild and so we do a lot of events. And this one is really unique. We’re marking the hundredth anniversary of the modern Mexican independence day.

It’s really a colorful time, and that park really does a great job down there every year there in Presidio.

Thanks Bryan,

For the majority of Texans, this is not a day trip, so remember to arrange overnight accommodations before hitting the road. Find information at texasstateparks.org.

We record our series at the production Block Studios in Austin, Texas.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

In 1832, Dr. Francis F. Wells—a member of Stephen F. Austin’s Old 300—founded a town along a bend of the Navidad River, which eventually became known as Texana.

This was the western most settlement of Austin.

Cindy Baker is the interpretive ranger at Lake Texana State Park. She says Texana was a thriving community; it was in a good location, had abundant natural resources, and a shallow water port. It could have been great, if not for some short sightedness.

Two brothers showed up and offered for 100-thousand dollars to buy the town. Mr. Wells said, ‘No. We want 200-thousand. We love our town.’ And the two brothers—wanted to build a deep water port—so they went east, they found the Buffalo Bayou, they dug their deep water port, and they called it Houston.

But that’s not all… In 1883 the New York, Texas and Mexican Railway bypassed the settlement.

A man named Telferner came through and said, ‘For 30-thousand dollars, I’d like to put my railroad stop here in your town.’ And they said, ‘A railroad? We have a port. We don’t want your dirty old railroad.’ He moved seven miles north, and he named that stop after his daughter Edna. Within two years, everyone picked up and moved to Edna.

Making Texana a ghost town… Today the remains of the town sit at the bottom of Lake Texana, created in 1979 when the Lavaca-Navidad River Authority, built a dam on the Navidad River.

That’s our show… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Help Texas celebrate its birthday February 27 & 28, where it all started: Washington-on-the-Brazos SHS.

It’s a totally free weekend for visitors that come to the park.

Janice Campbell is an interpreter at Independence Hall, where the general convention convened March 1 through 17, 174 years ago, and set the groundwork for the Republic of Texas. You can get a sense of what life was like then when you visit the site during the anniversary celebration.

We will have demonstrators demonstrating period crafts and skills here in the park; we will have political speeches, music…just a big birthday celebration for Texas.

Texas Independence Day is March, 2—but we’re celebrating early. Campbell says it’s worth the drive.

You will be driving into and visiting an area where some of the fist settlers came into Texas and settled. This event will highlight, of course, the formation of a nation.

Washington-on-the-Brazos SHS is located in a beautiful part of the state, and easy to find.

We are located off highway 105, about eight miles west of Navasota, and that would put us about 18 miles east of Brenham.

The Washington-on-the-Brazos SHS Texas Independence Day Celebration IS February 27 & 28. There’s more information on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

That’s our show… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
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February 27–28, 2010 — Washington-on-the-Brazos SHS — Texas Independence Day Celebration — Free, two-day historic event celebrating the 174th anniversary of Texas Independence. Visit Independence Hall and hear the story of the 1836 Convention. Also visit Barrington Living History Farm, the recreated 1850s farm of Dr. Anson Jones, last President of the Republic of Texas where costumed interpreters tell the story of life on a mid 19th century cotton farm. The Star of the Republic Museum, which focuses on the times of the Republic of Texas, will also be open during this important weekend. Enjoy the work of various artisans demonstrating their crafts, and on Sunday, enjoy a slice of our Texas-sized birthday cake. Accessible for the mobility and visually impaired. 10 AM-5 PM (936) 878-2214.

Texas Independence Day is March 2. And Washington on the Brazos is where it all started.

This town was chosen as the site of the general convention, which met on March 1, 1836, and adjourned on March 17.

Janice Campbell, an interpreter at Washington-on-the-Brazos State Historic Site, says those seventeen days in 1836, paved the way for Texas future.

In those seventeen days, the elected delegates that came here, they declared their independence from Mexico; they wrote a constitution; and they elected some officers for a government. So, I guess you could say the groundwork of the government of the Republic of Texas was created right here in Washington.

Campbell says one cannot help but feel a deep connection to the past when visiting Washington-on-the-Brazos.

It’s pretty awesome to be able to walk out there, and walk along the main thoroughfare of the town and know that we are walking in the footsteps of history…right here in Washington.

Washington-on-the-Brazos SHS plans to celebrate Texas’ independence the last weekend in February. We’ll tell you about the festivities tomorrow.

It will mark the 174 anniversary of the signing of the Texas declaration of Independence.

Find details about this and other state park events on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

That’s our show… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Buffalo soldiers were heroes in their time; examples of courage and hard work. But their accomplishments, seldom taught in classrooms, leave many young African American students, like Greg McClanahan, with a limited sense of their history.

They didn’t teach us nothing in school but that we were slaves. They didn’t teach us that we were heroes or nothing. In history, all you ever heard about was slaves this, and slaves that. You didn’t hear about no black heroes.

McClanahan attends public school in Kerrville, where he met Buffalo Soldier reenactors from Parks and Wildlife.

What we are doing is taking the legacy of the Buffalo Soldier into the cities and into the schools. And we feel that sharing this story, that we can instill some pride and some resolve in them.

Ken Pollard coordinates Buffalo Soldiers Heritage & Community Outreach for Parks and Wildlife. He said he found out about the Buffalo Soldiers as an adult, but wished he’d known about them earlier.

My relatives and kinfolk were cowboys, man. We didn’t have any black cowboys or soldiers, you know, to really look up to. For me, to have the black heroes there when I was growing up, that sense of pride would have been instilled in me. But if I had grown up with that—they would have been my heroes.

Find information about Buffalo Soldiers Heritage & Community Outreach on the TPW website.

That’s our show… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.