Old Zapata

Carrizo's loyalty was tested in 1861. Texas had seceded and county officials reported a unanimous vote, yet several prominent residents stayed Unionist. That April Antonio Ochoa, a follower of Juan Cortina, confronted county judge Isidro Vela with armed men to stop officials from taking the Confederate oath, and Ochoa's band was beaten. In May Cortina himself came across the river and was driven back by Confederate troops from Fort McIntosh under Santos Benavides. Accounts say about eleven prisoners were afterward hanged or shot.

What the plaque says

Old Zapata In 1770 residents of Revilla, Mexico, established a village (4.5 mi. W) on land granted by Jose de Escandon. The same year the Spanish built a fort nearby. In 1842 the men on the ill-fated expedition to Mier occupied the village while they foraged for supplies. First named "Habitacion," the town grew to be second largest on the Rio Grande. It was named for friendly Indians living in "carrizo" (cane) huts. In 1858, after Zapata County was created, the name changed to "Bellville" and then back to "Carrizo." In 1898 "Zapata" was chosen for Col. Antonio Zapata, a rancher executed for his part in the 1839 fight to found the Republic of the Rio Grande. Henry Redmond, a well-known area rancher, was the first county judge. Another county judge was Jose Antonio George Navarro, son of Jose Antonio Navarro, one of the two native-born signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence. The elimination of duty free trade along the border in 1903 caused an economic decline. With the coming of irrigation, a rich agricultural area developed. After the construction of Falcon Dam and the flooding of Old Zapata by lake water, the county seat was relocated at this site on land originally granted to Bartolome Cuellar and Jacinto de Cuellar. (1979)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Zapata County Museum of History — steps away
  The museum of a county whose old town of Zapata went under Falcon Reservoir, keeping the photographs, artifacts and natural history of the families who were moved.
• San Ygnacio Historic District — 15 mi
  A Rio Grande village of sandstone houses on land granted in 1750, home to the Treviño-Uribe Rancho, a fortified family compound begun in 1830 and a National Historic Landmark.
• Falcon State Park — 23 mi
  A 576-acre state park at the foot of the Falcon International Reservoir, made by the dam Presidents Eisenhower and Ruiz Cortines dedicated in 1953, known for bass fishing, camping and brush-country birds.

More markers nearby

• In the Vicinity of this Site was Mission Revilla a Visita — steps away
• Colonization of the Lower Rio Grande Area — steps away
• Site of Uribeño. — 5.6 mi
• Zapata County — 5.6 mi