Welcome to Texas

The early beginning - the Alamo - 24 February 1836

William Barret Travis and almost two hundred other defenders found themselves surrounded at the Alamo Mission in San Antonio in late February of 1836. Refusing to surrender, they held off the invading armies of Mexican Dictator Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna for almost two weeks.

On March 6, the courageous Texans were overrun and slaughtered by well over 2000 Mexicans. The resulting delay of Santa Anna's eastward movement gave other Texans more time to organize, both politically and militarily, and to ultimately defeat and capture Santa Anna at the Battle of San Jacinto, fought April 21, 1836.

The name Texas is derived from tejas or teyas, the rendering by the Spanish in the mid-16th century of the Caddo people's word for friends or allies. It gradually became used to denote the region north of the Río Grande and east of New Mexico, and was officially applied as Texas when the area was organized as a republic in 1836. Texas was an independent republic until it joined the Union on December 29, 1845, as the 28th state. Its single-star flag dates from its independent period and has given Texas the nickname the Lone Star State.

Texas is so vast and diverse we offer a few of the best resources for Internet information. 

Texas Highways - published monthly by the Travel and Information Division of the Texas Department of Transportation.
http://www.texashighways.com/

Population trends are detailed, followed by what may be the most complete list ever compiled of Texas towns, cities, communities and villages. This list of more than 14,000 Texas town names, includes not only the 5,800 existing towns, but also the names of towns that no longer exist and early names of existing towns. Since the list includes the counties in which these towns were located, it is a treasure for genealogists researching family history in Texas.

• Texas Nature, generally, from Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
  http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/nature/
  
  
• Weather Forecasts for Texas from weather.com
  http://www.weather.com/weather/us/states/Texas.htm
  
  
• U.S. Geological Survey's mapping information (find the latitude and longitude of any place in Texas) http://http://www.usgs.gov/state/state.asp?State=TX/
  
  
• U.S. Naval Observatory (calculating times of moonrise/set and sunrise/set for a particular location) http://aa.usno.navy.mil/AA/data/
  
  
• Texas Department of Transportation (Texas travel information)
  http://www.traveltex.com
  
  
• Texas Events, Fairs and Festivals List
  http://www.traveltex.com/ActivitiesAndEvents.aspx
  
  
• Road Mileage Calculator (distances between Texas cities)
  http://www.cpa.state.tx.us/comptrol/texastra.html
  
  
• National Parks and Historic Sites in Texas
  http://www.nps.gov/parks/search.htm
  
  
• Recreational facilities on National Forests and Grasslands in Texas
  http://www.southernregion.fs.fed.us/texas/
  
  
• Texas Hunting License Information and Regulations
  http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/hunt/hunt.htm
  
  
• Texas Fishing License Information and Regulations
  http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/fish/fish.htm
  
  
• The Texas State Historical Association
  http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/
  
  
• Texas Historical Commission
  http://www.thc.state.tx.us/
  
  
• Texas State Library and Archives - for government records and historic documents
  http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/general/index.html
  
  
• General Land Office - for Texas land archives and records
  http://www.glo.state.tx.us/central/arc/index.htm
  
  
• Texas Historic Sites Atlas
  http://atlas.thc.state.tx.us
  
  
• Lone Star Junction, an interesting and well-researched Texas history site.
  http://www.lsjunction.com/
  
  

Web Cams

• Austin Cam (from 6th St. and Trinity)
  http://www.earthcam.com/usa/texas/austin/
  
  
• Austin Skyline
  http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Pines/1814/austin.htm
  
  
• Corpus Christi Caller-Times - Web Cams
  http://www.caller2.com/multimedia/cams/
  
  
• EarthCam Dallas - from Dallas Museum of Natural History
  http://www.earthcam.com/usa/texas/dallas/
  
  
• WFAA Downtown Dallas 
  http://www.wfaa.com/bigcam.html
  
  
• Galveston Surf Cam 
  http://www.galvestonsurfcam.com/index.html
  
  
• Houston - EarthCam Houston - from Houston Museum of Natural Science
  http://www.earthcam.com/usa/texas/houston/museum/
  
  
• KHOU Web Cams (11 cameras at different spots around Houston)
  http://www.khou.com/news/webcams/index.html#
  
  
• KHOU Traffic Cams (Cameras at different spots around Houston)
  http://www.khou.com/news/traffic/cammap.html
  
  
• Laredo - Eye in the Sky 
  http://www.bravo.net/eye.asp
  
  
• Matagorda Beach - Matagorda Beach Surf cam
  http://www.matagordabay.com/#cam
  
  
• Round Rock - Round Rock traffic
  http://www.round-rock.net
  
  
• San Antonio EarthCam - San Antonio River Walk
  http://www.earthcam.com/usa/texas/sanantonio/boudros/
  
  
• Heart of San Antonio (corner of Navarro and Houston streets)
  http://HeartofSanAntonio.com/salive/smallview.asp
  
  
• SkyCam - KENS 5 Eye in the Sky
  http://www.mysanantonio.com/multimedia/webcams/
  
  
• Surfside Surf Cam
  http://netsurfing.com/surfcam/
  
  

On - line Magazine

• http://www.texashighways.com/currentissue/index.php
  Search the Texas Highways Online Index for the Road Trips we have featured on our Web site since 1998. Every month, our Road Trips take you to select destinations in the Lone Star State.
  
  
• Texas Cooking - recipes, features, humor, etc.
  http://www.texascooking.com/
  
  
• Guide To Texas Outside - information on hiking, camping, boating, fishing, hunting, parks, hotels, golf, retirement, scuba diving, and anything else you can do outdoors.
  http://www.texasoutside.com

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