Legendary Spanish Explorer Onate Exhibit Goes on the Road

Media Contact: Stephanie Loden, Texas State Parks (512) 389-8579 icle__media__contact">Media Contact: Stephanie Loden, Texas State Parks (512) 389-8579 or stephanie.loden@tpwd.texas.gov

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LAJITAS – A Humanities Texas exhibition about the sojourns of one of Spain’s legendary explorers of the New World opened this week at the Barton Warnock Visitor Center and will be presented at four other Texas state parks and historic sites over the next 13 months.

The Camino al Norte: The Journey of Don Juan de Onate, an exhibit sponsored by the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, will be on view at the easternmost portal to Big Bend Ranch State Park through the end of May.

Camino al Norte” details the last great expedition led by Juan de Oñate from Mexico in 1598 to establish a kingdom north of the Río Grande.  Although de Oñate’s attempt to create a new Mexico failed, his expedition led directly to the establishment of roads, cities and industries that are woven into the texture of the American Southwest.

Capturing scenes and sights along the Camino Real from its starting point in Central Mexico to its destination near Taos, New Mexico, “Camino al Norte” includes 40 photographs of the Oñate Trail as it appears today, an outline map of the road. Overview text and photo captions are printed in both English and Spanish.

The exhibition will move from Lajitas to Davis Mountains State Park in Fort Davis and be open to the public from June 1 through August 31. From there, the exhibit moves to Hueco Tanks State Historic Site in El Paso (September-October), Fort Leaton State Historic Site in Presidio (November-January 2015) and Seminole Canyon State Historic Site in Comstock (February-April 2015). For more information about viewing hours or to arrange group visits, contact the host sites or visit: www.texasstateparks.org.

Humanities Texas develops and supports diverse programs across the state, including lectures, oral history projects, teacher institutes, traveling exhibitions and documentary films. For more information, please visit Humanities Texas online at http://www.humanitiestexas.org or call (512) 440-1991.