Historical Markers

Jackson County is one of the original 23 counties created in the State of Texas on March 17, 1836, and is name for Andrew Jackson, then President of the United States. Jackson County has an interesting driving tour of historical homes and a large number of official Texas Historical Markers, including one for the site of the famous Lavaca-Navidad Meeting. This gathering held in 1835 saw the signing of a resolution urging Texas Independence. It was recognized of the Texas Centennial Commission as the forerunner of the Texas Declaration of Independence adopted in 1836.

The site of Jackson County was the early hunting grounds of the cannibalistic Karankawa Indians. This region was crossed in 1528 by shipwrecked Spaniard Cabeza de Vaca and later by French explorer La Salle, also shipwrecked, who founded the first settlement, the ill-fated Fort St. Louis in 1685. The site of the fort, just three miles down river from Bennett Park, was recently excavated by the Texas Historical Commission. A visit to the park enables visitors to experience very much the same conditions that this first colony found, as described in a journal by Henri Joutel in 1685. The park also contains the nothernmost stands of Sabal Palm trees in Texas. Ultimately the colony was destroyed by Indians and burned by the Spanish..

To get full experience of this region's historiry, visitors are invited on the "LaSalle Odyssey." a seven-museum tour which begins in Jackson County at the Texas Museum. By visiting each museum in the odyssey, (Edna, BayCity, Corpus Christi, Palacios, Port Lavaca, Rockport and Victoria), visitors may travel through time with the early explorer.