Texas, Medina County, near Hondo
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Located on the banks of Verde Creek (Arroyo Verde), Vandenburg, founded in 1846, was one of the colonies established by Empresario Henri Castro. Immigrants settled nearby and began farming. They dug a trench eight feet wide by six feet deep to protect them and keep their cattle nearby. Worship services conducted by visiting ministers were held in homes or under an arbor. Drought in 1847-49 caused crops to fail. Many settlers died from cholera. Most families moved to other communities by the 1860s. Two cemeteries are among the few physical remnants of Vandenburg.
(Cemeteries & Burial Sites • Settlements & Settlers) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.
Located on the banks of Verde Creek (Arroyo Verde), Vandenburg, founded in 1846, was one of the colonies established by Empresario Henri Castro. Immigrants settled nearby and began farming. They dug a trench eight feet wide by six feet deep to protect them and keep their cattle nearby. Worship services conducted by visiting ministers were held in homes or under an arbor. Drought in 1847-49 caused crops to fail. Many settlers died from cholera. Most families moved to other communities by the 1860s. Two cemeteries are among the few physical remnants of Vandenburg.(Cemeteries & Burial Sites • Settlements & Settlers) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.
May 5, 1867 - Jan. 27, 1922
Revolutionary Soldier
On this site, a pioneer natural gas well "blew in" on November 3, 1878. Named for the brothers Matthew and Obe Haymaker who drilled it, the well was drilled to a depth of 1,400 feet to the Murrysville sandstone, a bed of pourous rock similar to the boulder which bears this tablet. The well produced at the rate of 34 million cubic of gas daily. It caught fire and burned for 18 months before its flow was controlled and the fire extinguished. Gas from this well was piped into Pittsburgh in 1884. This was the first time that gas was transported to a large metropolitan city by a corporation organized to produce and transport natural gas.
In memory of all the slaves in Boone County,
those who helped them, and the slaves’ descendants
who remember & honor them and their legacy.
This first building at the College of William and Mary is the oldest college building in the United States. According to an 18th-century author, it was "first modeled by Sir Christopher Wren, adapted to the Nature of the Country by the Gentlemen there." Having survived two wars and three fires, the Wren Building continues to be used by the faculty and students of the College.
The water here is still relatively shallow, but deeper than the wetlands we saw upon entering the walkway. Bluegills, bass and pickerel hide in the overhanging bushes. The types of plants along the edge vary with the depth of the water. There are four major types of plants: underwater, floating, emergent and land. The underwater plants are rooted to the pond bottom and rarely reach the surface of the pond. The floating plants, like duckweed, are not attached to the bottom and may drift around the pond surface with the wind. Look closely for the mat of green on surface it is a miniature plant called duckweed. Duckweed is the smallest flowering aquatic plant in North America.
Welcometo the Ward Museum of Waterfowl Art Norman len Nature Trail. The trail runs along the western side of Schumaker Pond, one of the five headwaters of the Chesapeake Bay. Along the pond you can fish, bird watch, picnic and more. It also offers a source of fresh water to the Bay watershed, a home for many freshwater species of plants and animal and a way station for many transient waterfowl species. we invite you to enjoy trail a earn bout our pond.
From the deck you see several important shallow water plants. Most visible is the broad leaved cattail with its brown, cigar-like top. In the spring, there is a yellow top above the brown. The thin, tall native plant with the pinkish-purple flowers is Swamp Loosestrife which is a native and different specie than the invasive species sold in garden centers. During the late summer you can see a brilliant crimsoned spike of the Cardinal Flower, one of the brightest wetland plant. The small white bouquet-like flowers on the vines all around the other plants are Climbing Boneset (or Climbing Hemp Weed). There is another yellow stemmed vine called Dodder, sometime difficult to view in this area of the pond. A flowering parasite, it is unable to make its own food and therefore may will injure or kill the plants it grows on. Luckily, one of its favorite hosts is poison ivy.
