Puerto de Baluartes (Haven of the Strong Points)

Pedro de Rábago y Terán governed Coahuila from 1744 to 1754, the Handbook of Texas says, and in 1747 he scouted La Junta de los Ríos for a new presidio. Appointed in 1753 to finish an inquiry at the San Xavier missions, he arrived on August 11, 1754, to find the presidio ruined by his nephew Felipe's inept command. After exploring the San Saba and Llano country, he moved the presidio and missions to the San Marcos River without the viceroy's authority in August 1755 and was reprimanded. He died there in an epidemic in early 1756.

What the plaque says

In this pass between the hills--location of present day Menard--a site for an important Spanish mission to the Apaches was chosen in 1754 by Don Pedro de Rabago y Teran, second explorer sent on the assignment by the viceroy of New Spain. Suitable to be fortified and farmed, this pass had its mission built in 1757. (1964)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Presidio de San Saba — 1.8 mi
  The ruins of the largest Spanish presidio in Texas, built in 1757 to guard a mission to the Lipan Apache, where the Comanche and their allies first turned back Spain's frontier.
• Fort McKavett State Historic Site — 20 mi
  The post Sherman called the prettiest in Texas, home to soldiers of all four Buffalo Soldier regiments and then to a town that lived in its buildings until 1973.

More markers nearby

• Pioneer Rest Cemetery — 0.6 mi
• Fort McKavett, C.S.A. — 0.9 mi
• The Ditch — 1.0 mi
• Paso de la Santa Cruz — 1.5 mi