Mission Santissimo Nombre de Maria

Fray Francisco Casañas de Jesús María founded this second mission for the Nabedache in late summer 1690, about twelve miles from San Francisco de los Tejas. In fall 1691 Governor Domingo Terán de los Ríos came here after visiting the first mission, then left on November 6 to reach the Kadodacho near present Texarkana. He returned on December 30, near exhaustion from the march in bitter weather. The mission did not last much longer. In January 1692 the flooding Neches River destroyed it, and the missionaries returned to San Francisco.

What the plaque says

Mission Santissimo Nombre de Maria Was founded in this vicinity summer 1690 "on the banks of the Arcangel San Miguel" (Neches) River. Erected A.D. 1934 by De Zavala Chapter, Texas Historical and Landmarks Association. Located by: Dr. Albert Woldert, Tyler, Texas; Miss Adina De Zavala, San Antonio, Texas. Assisted by Mr. J.M. Lovell, Augusta, Texas.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Caddo Mounds State Historic Site — 1.9 mi
  Three earthen mounds of an ancestral Caddo village and ceremonial center on the old El Camino Real, settled about A.D. 800 and still sacred to Caddo people, with a grass house and visitor center.
• Texas State Railroad Excursion Train — 26 mi
  A round trip of about 25 miles of track between the Palestine and Rusk depots through the Piney Woods, on a line built by prison labor and reopened as a tourist railroad in 1976.

More markers nearby

• Neches Indian Village — 1.5 mi
• Zebulon Pike Campsite — 1.9 mi
• Community of Weches — 4.1 mi
• The Joseph R. Rice Log Cabin — 4.4 mi