Jeanne Williams.Temple Daily Telegram:

MILAM COUNTY EL CAMINO REAL DE LOS TEJAS TRAIL

Ceremony Set to Dedicate Trail’s 1st Signs

by Jay Ermis - Telegram Staff Writer

Temple Daily Telegram - September 4, 2012

CAMERON - Milam County will become the first in the state to erect signs on the El

Camino Real de los Tejas trail in October.

The “trail has been traveled through Milam County for almost 200 years, and we’re just

getting around to putting signs on it,” County Judge Dave Barkemeyer said.

If everything goes as planned, on Oct. 8, U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, former

Congressman Ciro Rodriguez from San Antonio and other dignitaries will be in Milam

County for a ceremony to dedicate the new signage and launch the national trail through

Texas.

“Quite an honor for our county,”

Barkemeyer said.

Rodriguez sponsored the legislation naming the El Camino as a national trail.

“We have our local Milam County Historical Commission folks such as Dr. Lucille Estelle

and Joy Graham who are on the El Camino Real de los Tejas State Board to thank for

aggressively pursuing getting the signs for us,” Barkemeyer said. “They indicated that

the Santa Fe Division of the National Park Service recommended Milam County be the

recipients of the first signs. A huge thank you goes to the Milam County Historical

Commission Preservation Trust, the cities of Cameron and Rockdale, and the National

Park Service who combined to pay for the signs.”

County commissioners led by Commissioner Jeff Muegge of Precinct 4 will be responsible

for installation.

To expedite use of the trail from a tourism standpoint, a steering committee has been

formed to initiate the first annual El Camino Real Trade Days event, which is being

planned for Oct. 27-28, he said.

The group is made up of the heads of the Cameron, Rockdale and Thorndale chambers of

commerce along with several community leaders from around the county. It will feature a

series of events from Thorndale to Rockdale to Cameron and will conclude with a live

auction at Apache Pass.

“Milam County is blessed with some world class historical sites, some outstanding

museums, now connected by a designated National Historical Trail,” he said. “It’s

appropriate that we move forward to take advantage of these county assets.”

jermis@tdtnews.com

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Temple Daily Telegram.
All credit for this article goes to
Jay Ermis and the Temple Daily Telegram