WASHINGTON, Texas — Imagine for a moment that it’s 1836 — or just head to the Washington-on-the-Brazos State Historic Site and let them do it for you.
“We make it authentic as possible to show people how it was done,” said site mangager Donna Barker.
From authentic clothing to a working farm tended to as it would be during the 1800s, the site is full of Texas history.
Adam Arnold is an intrepreter at the site. He took us inside the main attraction: Independence Hall, where 59 delegates crafted and signed Texas’ Declaration of Independence.
“Over the course of 17 days, they adopted the declaration, drafted a constitution, and formed a temporary government to see us through the war,” said Arnold. “This is where Texas became Texas.”
Washington-on-the-Brazos captures the past with a mix of modern technology.
“The work here is vital to the future of our new republic,” says an animated Richard Ellis, who was president of the 1836 convention on site.
Washington-on-the-Brazos is one of 42 historic sites run by the Texas Historical Commission. It ties so much Texas history together.
“This is kind of where we lost, and this is where we won,” said Barker, pointing to the Alamo and San Jacinto on a map. “But without Washington-On-The-Brozos none of it would’ve happened.”
The historic site offers information like interesting tidbits about the Republic of Texas and major things that happened at different parts of the property.
“The draft presented is said to have been such mess of awful handwriting and bad spelling that Childress (George Childress, the main author of the Texas Declaration of Independence) himself could barely read parts of it,” Arnold said.
“This is where they debated and made the final decision to join the United States,” Arnold said while standing in the building where Texas’ Congress would meet.
It’s Washington-on-the-Brazos where Texas came to be, and a place that altered the shape of our entire nation.