Atascosito

Atascosito was a name before it was a town. The Handbook of Texas says Spanish maps of 1757 show the settlement, and that a new Atascosito District took shape in 1826 when settlers set up an independent colony. Local government was run from Atascosito until 1831, when the seat moved about three miles southwest to the new Villa that became Liberty. According to some sources, a trading post called Arkokisa, a variant of Akokisa, stood near the future townsite from about 1770 to 1790. Texas Escapes calls the site a ghost town.

What the plaque says

Atascosito A Spanish settlement on the Atascosito Road was established here in 1757 to prevent French trade with the Indians - Four and one-half miles west of here the road crossed the Trinity - There Alonso de Leon, Spanish explorer, crossed in 1690 - The road from Goliad to Opelousas, Louisiana, known as the Lower Road, extensively traveled from 1750 to 1850, also crossed there. Erected by the State of Texas 1936

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center — 1.5 mi
  A state archives and museum north of Liberty with an exhibit on Southeast Texas history and a campus of historic buildings, including an 1848 house and an 1898 church.
• San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site — 30 mi
  The 1,200 acres of coastal prairie and marsh where the Texas Revolution ended in eighteen minutes, and the 567-foot shaft of fossil-studded limestone that has stood over them since 1939.

More markers nearby

• St. Stephen's Episcopal Church — 0.5 mi
• Price Daniel — 0.6 mi
• Augustine B. Hardin — 0.8 mi
• Benjamin W. Hardin — 0.8 mi