DIVERSE CULTURES / ONE LAND
Artists’ Statement
The inspiration for the idea behind the work came from the Land Heritage Institute, the organization overseeing 1200 acres of open space on the Medina River that was once slated to become the Applewhite Reservoir. Land Heritage Institute (LHI) leadership is comprised of a representative from each of the following permanent member organizations:
American Indians – Texas at Spanish Colonial Missions
Bexar Audubon Society
City of San Antonio – Department of Parks & Recreation – Medina River Natural Area
Friends of the Medina River
Green Spaces Alliance of South Texas
Native Plant Society of Texas
San Antonio Audubon Society
San Antonio Conservation Society
South San Antonio Chamber of Commerce
Tap Pilam Coahuiltecan Nation
Texas A&M University
Texas Equestrian Trail Riders Association
The Witte Museum
We as artists found it interesting that such diverse groups of people would be connected or linked by one piece of property. As we learned more about the history of the 1200 acres, we discovered that this was not a new phenomenon for this land. According to Texas A&M archeologists, “The LHI site has been identified as one of the most unique anthropological and archeological locations in the United States.” Artifacts found on the land show evidence of human habitation extending back 15,000 years.
Throughout the years peoples have come and gone from this land, leaving traces and influences both on the land and each other. The nine Diverse Cultures / One Land images deal with the influences of the following: original ancient Americans, the Spanish (the Ignacio Perez Family and “the oldest working ranch in Texas”), the settlers (the Applewhite, the Presnall and the Watson families), the slaves, the cattle ranchers, the archeologists, the current Native Americans, the future that man will have on the land, and lastly, the natural land itself that brings us all together.
This project consists of portraits of cultures. This 1200 acres is a microcosm of Texas culture itself, dating back to the beginnings of human life in Texas. According to Dr. Alston Thoms, a Texas A&M archeologist who has spearheaded much of the archeological work on the LHI property, “The whole of ancient history in Texas, really, South-, Central-, North America, or even in the New World, is embedded in the Land Heritage Institute.” What happens to this land in the future will determine whether or not future Texans have the opportunity to learn about that history. We, as artists, wanted to show these histories and heritages, and to allow those who view our images the opportunity to realize they too are linked to the land and the cultures that have come before them.
–Nancy Cavender-Garcia (lead artist), Robert Garcia, Jennifer Martin, Whitney Smith
NATURAL LAND
Land Heritage Institute maintains, operates, and is developing 1200 acres which were ceded to it by the San Antonio Water System on behalf of the City of San Antonio. This acreage preserves some of the most versatile and historically important land in the South Texas region. According to LHI Vice-President Ramon Vasquez of the American Indians in Texas, “You can find evidence of every single culture that shaped Texas on this site.”
For more than 10,000 years, native peoples have returned to this Medina river area–an ecotone–as a place of life-sustaining resources. An ecotone is a transitional zone between two adjacent but different plant communities, such as a forest and grassland, and is key to understanding why this land has been so bountiful. This region is made up of three major zones: the uplands, the terrace and the flood plain. The uplands provided a home for small game such as rabbits and squirrels as well as larger animals such as deer and antelope. The terrace also had a variety of larger and small animals which were hunted by the inhabitants. However, more importantly, it was the source of a variety of root foods used extensively by the native groups. The flood plain includes the river and the surrounding land. The river gravel bars were source of stone for toolmaking; the river itself provided water for people and trees; the trees, such as pecan and hickory, provided food and fuel.
This land is a sanctuary along the major north-south bird migratory route, making it an exceptional experience for birders and wildlife conservationists. The acreage holds archeological history yet to be excavated and studied; it stores a profusion of historical information pertaining to various cultures, including the Spanish, cattle ranching, antebellum farming and slavery, and tenant farming.
The land is covered with majestic cypress, pecan and live oak trees. One live oak measures twenty-eight feet in circumference and is possibly over 1,000 years old; this tree may rank among the top ten oldest oak trees in Texas.
Land Heritage Institute is another jewel in San Antonio’s south side “Emerald Necklace,” complementing the Medina River Natural Area, the Mitchell Lake Audubon Center, the Spanish Colonial missions, the Mission Reach of the San Antonio River Improvements Project and the Mission Trail.
ANCIENT AMERICANS
Indigenous peoples have lived near the Medina River area for centuries. Through excavation, records show human habitation as far back as 15,000 years. Currently these groups are referred to as Coahuiltecan Indians by their descendants and archeologists. These indigenous peoples did not refer to themselves as Coahuiltecan. It is believed they were organized into hundreds of small bands and groups–one being the Payaya Indians who were known to reside in and around the Medina River and the Land Heritage Institute property.
They were hunter/gatherers who lived in temporary settlements near water and wood; they hunted with bow and arrow using chipped stones with barbs. It is probable that the bulk of their diet consisted of seasonally available plant resources as well as fish and game. The riparian habitats of and surrounding the Medina River provided such life-sustaining nourishment.
Their use of seasonal foods caused these peoples to migrate. In the summer they migrated toward the prickly pear fields; in the fall they harvested pecan nuts, and during the winter months they concentrated on plant roots. The Payaya frequently shared encampments with other native groups during seasonal harvests.
As western culture arrived in South Texas, especially the Spanish, the lives of these indigenous peoples began to change. Their ancient trails became the country’s oldest roads, Los Caminos Reales. They relocated from their natural habitats and began life in the San Antonio Mission complexes. Descendants of these peoples are among the inhabitants of South Texas today.
SPANISH INFLUENCE
The Marqués de Croix reported to King Carlos of Spain that only through the settlement of families in this volatile new territory of Nueva España would Spain’s hold on the land be ensured. In March of 1731, José Antonio Peres de Casanova arrived in San Antonio as part of an immigration expedition representing sixteen families from the Spanish Canary Islands.
Many early settlers failed to withstand the remote area and the destructive repercussions associated with the indigenous Lipan Apaches and Comanches. José Peres persevered, and on the land between the Leon Creek and the Medina River he built his home and raised his family. He married Paula Granado with whom he had eight children. Cattle raising was the primary source of income for the Peres family. Although the land had been legally claimed by Mission San José, it was agreed that José Antonio Peres de Casanova’s entrepreneurial cattle-ranching skills benefitted the mission community, so he was permitted to continue to practice and reside there with his family.
Under Juan Ignacio Pérez, the grandson of Jose Peres born in 1761, the Pérez cattle ranching dynasty flourished. Juan inherited his grandfather’s love for the land and the cattle. His focus was to extend the Pérez family ranch; he became a true frontiersman.
In 1908 the Pérez family was given a land grant of approximately 12 statute miles west of the Medina River to graze their stock. The Pérez family’s rancho now included more than 20,000 acres. It is still known as “the oldest family-owned ranch in Texas.” Remnants of the house and chapel built by the Pérez family exist today on property adjacent to the Land Heritage Institute – acreage which was worked by the Pérez family and their descendants until the 1990’s.
CATTLEMEN
The Texas cattle-ranching tradition originated in the 1700’s; it developed out of the capturing of wild stock left behind by the 16th- and 17th-century Spanish explorers. In the beginning, cattle ranching was dominated by the Spanish missions. However, the American Revolution in 1776 stimulated the ranching economy of the region when cattle were driven to Louisiana to feed the troops. This marked the decline of mission-based ranching and the emergence of private ranches. Ignacio de Perez, original owner of the LHI property, created a Spanish style rancho with vaquero’s that managed the native cattle known as “Longhorns.”
The Bexar-Bahia area is regarded as the cradle of Texas ranching where major techniques for stock handling, branding and cattle raising, along with cowboy accessories such as chaps, saddles, lariats, and other ranching equipment were developed. Trail drives moved the cattle to market; the cattle industry saw the emergence of important ranching families which resulted in cattle dynasties providing support and control of communities in the area.
The Presnall and Watson families ranched the property from 1882 to 1991; part of the history of the Chisholm and Great Western Trails starts with this farmstead. This land was one of the many gathering points for Longhorn cattle being driven across the Medina River at the Applewhite Crossing on the immediate west boundary of the Land Heritage Institute property marking the beginnings of the Great Western and Chisholm Trails. While railroads and refrigeration have changed some aspects of cattle marketing, much of the herding and stock handling traditions have continued to the present day.
Land Heritage Institute has re-established a herd of Longhorn Cattle on the site providing visitors an opportunity to view the cattle at close range. These purebred Longhorns are registered with the Cattlemen’s Texas Longhorn Registry (CTLR), an organization dedicated to the preservation of the authentic Longhorn bloodline.
SETTLERS
Mexico won independence from Spain in 1821, and immigrants began arriving in San Antonio de Bexar. By accepting Mexican citizenship and professing to be Catholic, U.S. immigrant settlers were allowed to possess property. The beginning of this period was marked by Anglo-American loyalty to Mexico, but in time these settlers completely disengaged their allegiances to Mexico and switched to Anglo-American identification, dominance and empathy toward the United States.
During Texas’ battle for independence, Jose Ignacio Pérez, owner of the Rancho de la Purisima Concepcion on the Media River, left his property (now Land Heritage Institute) to relocate his family to the Rio Grande river area for the duration of the revolution, leaving his property in the care of friends. Upon his return to the new Republic of Texas in 1846, he discovered that squatters had laid claim to 16,000 acres on the south bank of the Medina River that had once made up part of his 24,000-acre ranch.
To fund its fledgling government, the Republic of Texas turned to the sale of land in the public domain. Many of these new “head” or land grants overlapped earlier Spanish and Mexican land grants, including those of the Pérez family. Of seventeen land grants involving the LHI property, only four remained in the hands of Mexican families and their descendants.
During the early- and mid-1800s, the LHI property was parceled and sold to early Texas settler families including the Applewhites, the Presnalls and the Watsons. These families and their descendants worked the land, some which included the LHI property, until the land was claimed by eminent domain by the City of San Antonio for the Applewhite Reservoir Project in the early 1980s.
In the 1990s, when the Applewhite Reservoir was voted down by San Antonio citizens, the land was put in trust to the Land Heritage Institute to preserve and protect its rich natural and cultural resources. Today many descendants of the original homesteading families are working together with Land Heritage Institute to keep the property intact for future Texas generations to enjoy.
SLAVES
Agriculture involving livestock and crops has been the primary occupation by which Native-Americans, European-Americans and African Americans supported their families along the middle Medina River and elsewhere in rural Bexar County for most of the historic period predating World War II.
Immigration to the area by southeasterners, along with their slaves, increased greatly in the 1840’s and early 1850’s. It was during this time that the Applewhite and the Presnall families arrived in Texas. With their slaves, they continued the plantation-style farming they had practiced in the past. The cultivation of cotton and other crops, as well as cattle raising and the keeping of slaves, became integral parts of their ranching and family life on what is now the Land Heritage Institute property.
Slavery was also practiced on the Perez family rancho from the early 1800’s until the Civil War. Concepcion Linn, daughter of Maria Josefa Perez, depended heavily on a slave named Henry Burl Ross who lived on their ranch. His grandmother had been a slave that was leased to the Linn family and he came with her to the property. Burl, or Uncle Burr as he was known, worked on the ranch for 86 years–both as a slave and as a free man.
African Americans contributed to the building and cultivation of the south Texas region and continued working the land as sharecroppers after the Civil War. Descendants of the slaves who helped build the farms and ranches that constitute the Land Heritage Institute property still live in the south Texas region.
Though the history of these slaves is not well documented, their contribution of hard labor made the difficult life on this land unquestionably easier for the Anglo-American property-owner/slave-holder families.
ARCHEOLOGISTS
During the digging of the dam for the voter-rejected Applewhite Reservoir, one man–Richard Beene–stepped off his earth-moving machine and discovered archeological artifacts dating back many, many millennia. “The belly scrapers were scraping by and they were sixteen feet beneath the surface and he [Richard Beene] saw all over the ground the remains of these campfires and the remains of these mussel shells,” recalls Texas A&M archeologist Alston Thoms, who was working nearby on the property in 1990 when Beene raised the alarm. “Had he waited fifteen minutes, at the rate those belly scrapers were going, [the evidence] would have been gone.” As a result of his find, this place would become known to archeologists as “the Richard Beene Site.”
In early 1990 Texas A&M archeologists recorded the Richard Beene Site, then known only as 41BX831. In all, twenty distinct archeological layers were excavated at the site yielding over forty radiocarbon ages. This makes the Richard Beene Site one of only a handful of sites on the entire U.S. Gulf Coastal Plain to yield a nearly complete record of occupation spanning the last 10,000 years. The Richard Beene Site was among only fifteen sites determined eligible for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places and for official designation as State Archeological Landmarks.
This site provides an unusually complete record of the region’s cultural and natural history with an abundance of projectile points, evidence of grinding slabs for the processing of plants, sandstone earth ovens, stone knives and an extensive, well-preserved campsite.
Evidence and artifacts at the Richard Beene Site are telling signs of the ways in which life changed for the people who called the site and the surrounding area home throughout the last 10,000 years. The goal of the LHI foundation is to preserve these archaeologically rich sites for future generations to learn about Texas history and culture by opening the property for use by colleges and universities to continue archeological research.
NEW INDIAN INFLUENCE
Coahuiltecan natives were assimilated into the Spanish missions, and archeologists of the recent past considered them to be extinct. However, descendants of those same natives say their people never died out: They were absorbed into the Spanish and Mexican cultures that surrounded them.
The Tap Pilam Coalhuiltecan Nation constitutes the modern-day descendants of protohistoric Indians living in south Texas, who collectively came to be known as Coahuiltecans. Today, these Coahuiltecan descendants are an essential component to the Land Heritage Institute.
“We always knew we were different. We knew we were Indian,” says Ray Hernandez, a Tap Pilam tribal elder.
In 1994 the Native American community came together to form the American Indians in Texas at the Spanish Colonial Missions (AIT-SCM), whose mission it is to preserve and protect their culture and traditions. AIT-SCM also provides developmental programs, founded on sacred Coahuiltecan teachings, for the education of their members. One such program, the AIT-SCM Rites of Passage, seeks to connect youths with their indigenous teachings. “We know of our culture,” said Isaac Cardenas, a Coahuiltecan descendant and program manager for AIT-SCM, “but we saw a lot of youth that didn’t know.”
One of the first goals of the American Indians in Texas at the Spanish Colonial Missions was to reclaim the ancestral remains of those who once lived in and around the Medina river area. These remains were excavated from Mission San Juan Capistrano in 1967. In November 1999, the remains of over 100 Coahuiltecan men, women and children were re-buried on the grounds of the mission; stone markers commemorate the remains.
Future of the Tap Pilam/Coahuiltecan nation on the LHI site include the construction of the American Indians in Texas Cultural Center. Over the past ten years the tribe has used the LHI property for tribal activities and events. The proposed new cultural center will house artifacts uncovered during archeological projects. The Center also serve as a permanent location for tribal functions and educational programs. The public will be invited to interact during these events to help educate other communities about Native Americans in Texas, both past and present.
EVERY MAN
Every major cultural group throughout history that has inhabited south Texas has left evidence of their existence on this piece of property. The City of San Antonio has entrusted this land to a diverse coalition of “permanent member organizations” – grassroots organizations working together to develop, maintain and interpret these remarkable 1,200 acres of open space as a living “land Museum” to preserve its natural and cultural resources for the benefit of the people of the State of Texas and its visitors.
“It’s a very unique kind of thing,” said Mark Oppelt, President of LHI. “the Land Heritage Institute as a historical, educational, natural and archaeological entity has no precedent in the United States.”
San Antonio area students of all ages will be able to learn first-hand the land’s history and heritage through the outdoor classroom the land provides – by learning experientially at archeological sites. The Medina River Greenway Hike and Bike Trail meanders to the end of the LHI property. I will ultimately stretch a full eleven miles, all the way to the Mitchell Lake Audubon Center. Horseback riding, hiking, biking and camping among other the other activities available to LHI visitors.
On June 20, 2008, Elaine Ayala of the San Antonio Express-News wrote, “Someday, people will go there to listen to archaeologists explain the site’s primordial past, visit a South Texas pioneer farmhouse, attend events at an American Indian Center, see a Spanish colonial ranch or ride a horse at a planned equestrian center. All this while enjoying the land’s natural flora and fauna.”
This property has a story to tell about the peoples of Texas, the Southwestern United States and Northern Mexico – past, present and future. In fact, there is only one place in Texas that tells its whole 10,000 yearlong human history, and that place is Land Heritage Institute.
