El Camino Surreal
Austin, From El Camino Real de los Tejas Crankie Suite, illustrated by Valerie Fowler
El Camino Real de los Tejas is a network of ancient Native American roads, later used by the Spanish, French and Anglo settlers of Texas. It is one of 19 “National Historic Trails” administered by the National Park Service. It passes right through Austin, and almost no one knows about it. We can help change that.
On Tuesday May 24th at 6 pm, El Camino Real de los Tejas National Historic Trail Association (ElCaT) will be offering us an opportunity to start a local “Community Chapter” to help preserve and promote Austin’s little known traces of El Camino. And after the meeting, Brian Beattie and Valerie Fowler will perform “El Camino Real de los Tejas Crankie Suite”, an illustrated musical time traveling trip across Texas.
Perhaps you are now saying “But I’ve never even HEARD of El Camino Real de los Tejas!” No need to worry. It’s pretty hard to learn anything about the pre Anglo-colonial history of this area. “Austin” was founded in 1839, three years after they put the x in Texas, so the traditional version of our history is very “post Alamo”, shall we say. But El Camino Real de los Tejas has long connected us to Mexico via San Antonio, and Louisiana via Nacogdoches, well before it was rebranded by the Spanish at the dawn of the 1700’s.
Austin’s endless re-invention of itself tends to obscure the older local stories, big and small… the deeper, knotted roots that makes up the place’s fabric.
San Antonio, from “El Camino Real de los Tejas Crankie Suite” Illustrated by Valerie Fowler
A Texas History Palate Cleanser
If you enjoy Texas History, but get triggered when a dude in a period costume starts yelling about the Alamo, take heart! El Camino Real de los Tejas is an inclusive Texas history palate cleanser. A renewed awareness of the Spanish Colonial and Native American history of our area is just beginning to blossom. Austin Parks and Recreation sponsored a project about Indigenous Austin called “To Relate” which concisely guides you through some complicated Native American Texas histories. (Kudos to Amy Heath and Jennifer Chenoweth!) Research about our own Onion Creek Metropolitan Park’s relationship to El Camino is underway, and fundraising continues. More and more groups like the Indigenous Cultures Institute in San Marcos and Tap Pilam in San Antonio are celebrating and helping to define the living Native American relationship to Tejano culture. El Camino Real ties together the entire history of Texas. (Spoiler alert… El Camino passes right by the Alamo.)
Help create Austin’s El Camino Real de los Tejas Community Chapter Program
On May 24th, Steven Gonzales, executive director of El Camino Real de los Tejas National Historic Trail Association is hosting an outreach meeting at Austin’s ElCat headquarters with Aaron Mahr of the National Park Service. They’re sponsoring a series of “Community Chapter Programs” to help spread the word about El Camino, from San Antonio to Austin. They need local folks to help preserve and promote our own known and undiscovered connections to El Camino Real, and the deeper history of Tejas. This program is largely guided by its members, so we could help put together a real Austin gem of an organization for people, elected officials, fundraising savants and businesses to work together to preserve and promote our stretch of El Camino. I am especially appealing to our creative class to get involved as well. Writers, artists, film folks, musicians, web designers… Anyone who wants to help give voice to El Camino. We are evolving in to a BIG city, and the sooner we start protecting the existing traces of this old road, the better. A better grounding in our past should help inform what sort of "Big City” we’re going to become. And, as a special treat after the meeting, we’ll be giving a FREE performance of “El Camino Real de los Tejas Crankie Suite”. The Austin community chapter outreach meeting will be taking place at the ElCaT Office in the AGE Building located at 3710 Cedar Street, Austin, TX 78705 on May 24, 2022 from 6:00PM - 7:00PM. “El Camino Real de los Tejas Crankie Suite” performance from 7:15 to 8pm. Register here- or just show up!
Onion Creek rises, Mckinney Falls, from El Camino Real de los Tejas Crankie Suite, illustrated by Valerie Fowler.
Brian Beattie has been in the Austin music universe for 43 years, and he is a super fan of El Camino Real de los Tejas. He was co-leader of the band Glass Eye from ’83 to ’93. About the time his bandmates appeared in Richard Linklater’s “Slacker”, Brian was producing The Dead Milkmen’s “Punk Rock Girl” at Arlyn Studios, 200 yards from his present home. He’s worked with Daniel Johnston, Kathy McCarty, Okkervil River, Bill Callahan and many others. His latest project is a time traveling multi media musical called “El Camino Real de los Tejas Crankie Suite”, lavishly illustrated on a 96 foot scroll by Valerie Fowler.