Pilot Knob

The road this hill guided people along began at Indianola, which the Handbook of Texas calls the chief port for European and American immigrants heading into western Texas. Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels chose a stretch of beach near the point in 1844 as the German landing place, briefly named Karlshafen. Stagecoach service to the interior began in January 1848, and a railroad followed in 1871. The hurricanes of 1875 and 1886 ended the port, and the site was abandoned by 1887, but the knob outlasted it as a landmark.

What the plaque says

Pilot Knob A beacon for early Texas pioneers. Because this hill could be seen for miles, it guided travelers from Old Indianola (on the coast) inland to Helena and San Antonio during the 19th century. On the hill, they discovered charred rocks and artifacts from a previous Indian campground. The area was first surveyed in 1838 by the Goliad Land District and in 1886 the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railroad was built through this region. For years a sign at the Weldon Switch (present Nordheim) Depot proclaimed its 400-foot elevation was highest on the line between Houston, San Antonio, and Waco. In 1895 Nordheim was platted. Afterward numerous German immigrants were attracted to the area. Under the sturdy oaks on Pilot Knob, young and old enjoyed typical German and pioneer activities, including band concerts, shooting matches, harvest and May festivals, and Easter egg hunts. A refreshment stand and dance platform were built on the hill, which became the center of social life for Nordheim citizens. Here the townspeople also buried their dead, and since most activities had been moved into town by about 1910, Pilot Knob gradually settled into its present use as the community cemetery. (1968)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Panna Maria — 18 mi
  The Silesian village on a plateau above the San Antonio River that claims the oldest permanent Polish settlement in America, with a church of 1878 and a ceiling found again in 2000.
• Goliad State Park and Historic Site — 22 mi
  Mission Espíritu Santo on the San Antonio River, a mission ranch whose herds seeded Texas cattle country, rebuilt from ruin by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s.
• Chisholm Trail Heritage Museum — 23 mi
  A cattle-country museum in Cuero's 1903 Knights of Pythias Hall, telling the Guadalupe Valley's 1866 drive north and the Sutton-Taylor feud that bloodied DeWitt County.
• Zaragoza Birthplace State Historic Site — 23 mi
  A rebuilt stone house beside La Bahía marking where Ignacio Seguín Zaragoza, the general of the Battle of Puebla and Cinco de Mayo, was born in 1829.

More markers nearby

• Jubilee Park Pavilion — 0.6 mi
• Nordheim Shooting Club — 0.9 mi
• Cabeza — 5.6 mi
• Lithuanians in Texas — 6.7 mi