HAS Members Participated in Metal Detecting Survey at San Felipe de Austin (January 19 - 20, 2013)

Several members from HAS participated in a metal detecting survey at San Felipe de Austin January 19 - 20, 2013.

San Felipe de Austin was the original colonial Capital of Texas. Located at the Brazos River crossing of the Atascosito Road that connected San Antonio to Louisiana, San Felipe de Austin became the second largest town in colonial Texas. Members of the Houston Archeological Society worked with archeologist Marianne Marek several years ago excavating sites in and around the San Felipe de Austin State Historic Site. The archeological report on those excavations has recently been released.

Marianne asked HAS members to join her again over the weekend of January 19 - 20 to conduct a metal detector survey at San Felipe in a field where Mexican General Santa Anna’s army might have camped on the way to San Jacinto. Plans for the empty field include imminent construction of a large church so surveying the field before construction begins was imperative. HAS members including Louis Aulbach, Bob Sewell, Sandy Rogers, Tom Williams, Dick Gregg, Tracy Connell, Beth and Pat Aucoin, Gary Ryman, Linda Gorski, and former HAS presidents Charlie Gordy and Tom Nuckols spent the weekend detecting and digging in the field. Although no conclusive evidence of the Mexican encampment was found, several interesting artifacts were uncovered. Excavations and surveys at San Felipe are scheduled to continue later in the spring and HAS members will again be invited to participate. For more information about San Felipe de Austin see http://www.colonialcapitaloftexas.com/SanFelipeDeAustin.htm