Hi and welcome to the Traveling Fool , the show that talks about travel destinations , the history , culture and people of those destinations , and travel tips and news . I'm Bob Bales , and today we're talking about a small country town that has seen celebrities , outlaws and fired the first shot in a revolution .
Now , before we start , I want to let you know there are some links in the show notes for products that I use and helpful sites . A couple of them do pay me a small commission if you use them , but , like I've said before , I'm never going to promote anything that I don't personally use .
Now , I love visiting small towns and learning about their history , and there is a small town in Texas that has never had more than about 7,000 people living there , but can count among the many of the most famous and most popular city citizens A young lady who was born there and went on to become a supermodel actress and a long time partner of an iconic rock
musician . I'm talking about Jerry Hall , who was born in this town in 1956 , and went on to become the long time girlfriend and partner of none other than Mick Jagger . Now there's another person in this town who was just as famous in his time In 1839 , a fellow by the name of Phil Coe was born in this town .
He became an old West gambler , a businessman and partner of gunfighter Ben Thompson out of Abilene , kansas , and wound up getting killed by none other than Marshall Wild Bill Hickok in a gunfight in 1871 . Now in the early to mid-1950s , there was a young man that visited this town a couple of times .
The first time this young wannabe singer visited , he was headed to another town to perform a gig and he stopped by the hotel in town , grabbed a sandwich and asked if he could take a nap for a couple of hours . The second time he came to town , he actually played a concert from the bed of a pickup truck for the citizens .
The hotel where he stopped at is still standing and operating to this day and there's a room decked out in memorabilia . Oh , the young man . Well , that would be the future king of rock and roll , elvis Presley . That same hotel hosted a famous crime duo by the name of Bonnie and Clyde in 1938 .
They got a room using aliases because they really didn't want to be noticed too much , but alas , somebody did and they wound up escaping through a window as the law was closing in Another outlaw by the name of John Wesley Hardin , spent some time in the city jail before making an escape .
Now , if you've never heard of John Wesley Hardin , he was undoubtedly one of the deadliest of the Old West outlaws . He boasted of killing over 40 men , one of them for snoring too loud .
He was arrested several times , escaped several times before being caught and sent to prison , where he was later pardoned and became a lawyer Living in El Paso , where he finally died in a gunfight there . But perhaps the most historic event of this town occurred in the 1800s , when the town was a fledgling community .
It would come under raids by local Indian tribes . In 1831 , the Mexican government gave this town a small cannon to protect itself , but mainly make noise to scare off intruders . Fast forward 1835 , the seeds of Texas revolution were brewing and a provisional army had been raised .
In September of 1835 , the commander of all Mexican troops in Texas requested the cannon back . After the settlers refused , he sent 100 Mexican soldiers to retrieve the cannon . Now , in the meantime , in the meantime in trouble , the settlers rounded up some help and they had 140 men respond to defend the town and its cannon .
On October 1st , with the Mexican troops camped just outside the settlement , the settlers decided to take the fight to the Mexican army and attack the camp , raising a homemade flag with a crude drawing of a cannon and the words come and take it .
The settlers fired their cannon and let Lucevalia gunfire the Mexican commander , knowing he was outnumbered and deciding well , the small cannon really just wasn't worth it , with jurors forces before any more shots were fired , but this did become the first shot fired in the Texas revolution .
Now the town I'm talking about is Gonzales , texas , which is about 74 miles east of San Antonio , just south of Interstate 10 , which means you have to really want to visit this town because it isn't something you pass zipping along on the interstate .
The hotel where Elvis , bonnie and Clyde stayed is the Alcalde Hotel , just a couple of blocks from the town square . There's also the Gonzales Memorial Museum , which houses the famous cannon as well as other historic artifacts . The Old City Jail is now a museum .
It makes for an interesting tour and you can also visit Pioneer Village , which sits just outside of town . It's a living history center with a collection of 1800s and early 1900 era houses and buildings to show you what life was like in early Gonzales County . Gonzales is a fun town to visit .
It holds a lot of history and it's one of the reasons I love visiting small towns . They don't always have flashy tourist attractions and most are not on the interstate . You do have to travel the back roads to get to some of them , but when you visit them you can learn about some interesting history and meet some interesting people .
Now , before I go , I want to leave you with this thought Next time you go somewhere on a trip , look at taking some of the back roads and explore some of the smaller towns . If you travel anywhere , whether it's stateside or overseas , take some time and explore some of the smaller towns and just might find some interesting history .
Travel is about the people you meet , the stories you collect and the memories that stay with you for years . So make your next trip and every trip afterwards a memorable one . Thanks for tuning in to the Traveling Fool podcast . I hope you enjoyed it and got something out of it that you can use .
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