T

he Rio Grande Valley saw more Civil War battles than any other area in Texas, says Chris Miller, a history professor at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. With most southern ports blockaded by the Union navy, the Mexican port of Bagdad on the Rio Grande played a vital role in supplying the Confederacy.

As an armchair tourist, you can travel the Rio Grande Valley Civil War Trail via audio recordings, accessed using a phone, to visit the trail’s 43 sites. In addition to images, narration and text, the RGV Civil War Trail website provides directions for visiting the sites in person.

“A virtual tour is a way you can quickly make a presence,” says Russ Skowronek, an anthropology and history professor at the university. Because no funding existed to develop wayside signs and exhibits for this overlooked segment of history, Skowronek, Miller and the Community Historical Archaeology Project with Schools joined forces with the Palo Alto Battlefield National Historical Park and others to create the virtual Civil War Trail. It stitches together historical markers and sites that tourists can visit alphabetically or geographically.

The trail begins with the first battle of the 1846–48 Mexican-American War, commemorated by the Palo Alto Battlefield park northwest of Brownsville.

The Civil War Trail is paved with fascinating stops. The salt works at La Sal del Rey in Hidalgo County provided the salt that was essential to preserving meat for the troops. Homebound cotton wagons hauled the salt north with other military supplies. Union forces wrecked the rebel-held salt works in 1863 to hamper the South’s efforts.

In Rio Grande City, the Mifflin Kenedy Warehouse still stands on Water Street, 150 years after it housed Confederate cotton en route to Europe. The couple living at Jackson Ranch sheltered slaves escaping to Mexico. In Laredo, Confederate Col. Santos Benavides garrisoned his troops around St. Augustine Plaza and blocked streets with cotton bales to thwart Union soldiers. Confederate cavalry engaged the Union forces in a battle at Point Isabel in 1864 to gain control of the lighthouse.

East of Brownsville at Palmito Ranch, the final land battle of the Civil War occurred one month after Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered. Five hundred Union soldiers on their way to Brownsville confronted 300 Confederate soldiers. Following the confrontation, the Union forces retreated and sustained the last casualty of the war, an infantryman from Indiana.

With the Civil War Trail’s paper map and directions taken from the website, I drive down Military Highway (now U.S. 281), which connected Fort Brown to Ringgold Barracks in Rio Grande City. I scan the map’s QR code with my iPhone to access the Civil War Trail and select the recordings for sites scattered between sugar cane and cabbage fields. I read historical markers with only the wind for company.

While the virtual tour presents an interesting experience of many sites along the trail, several stops deserve a road trip: the sparkling white Sal del Rey, the lonesome prairie and interpretive displays at Palo Alto, and the exhibits at the Museums of Port Isabel and the Museum of South Texas History in Edinburg.

Skowronek says one benefit of a virtual tour is that more sites can be included easily. When I tell him that Union and Confederate armies had used the home of Brownsville Mayor Israel Bigelow as a hospital, he reminds me the trail is a community-generated project. “We welcome ideas from people that help us add stops on the trail.”

Author Eileen Mattei uncovered the Israel Bigelow house information while researching her book For the Good of My Patients: The History of Medicine in the Rio Grande Valley (Topp Direct Marketing, 2012). This article was featured in the May 2016 issue of Texas Co-Op Magazine

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The latest issue of Texas Monthly features The Greatest Burgers in Texas. First, I want to congratulate Larry and Jessica Delgado of House Wine in McAllen for being the only hamburger from the Rio Grande Valley chosen as a top 50 for this article. House Wine & Bistro is a great place and a local favorite. It is on my "to-do" list to plan on going back and ordering the "McAllen Ranch Burger."

It would take a long time, considering the size of our state for us to delight on all of the top 50 burgers, but I feel we are entitled to our opinion on the subject. We can certainly provide guidance for people to find original places to eat in the Rio Grande Valley. Let's keep in mind that what can be a great burger to some, does not necessarily mean everyone will agree, but with careful scrutiny we can certainly come up with the top burgers in Valley.

Last July my husband and I visited Edinburg for a piano recital at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. Wonderful performance and incredible venue at the new Performing Arts Complex.  Afterwards, our friends Virginia and George Gause suggested dinner at the University Draft House in Edinburg. Without hesitation we agreed, for our friends have a knack for good food. Virginia recommended the lamb burger called "The Greek," and I have to say it was fantastic! The menu's selection of hamburgers is varied, so the choice is not easy.  I made the right choice and recommend this burger for all lamb lovers out there. The Greek burger consists of ground lamb, cinnamon, mint, basil, roasted tomato, arugula, red onions, feta cheese, cucumber and Tzatziki sauce served on a whole grain bun. My husband ordered the "Bucking Bronco" burger which he also raves about. Made in-house french fries and sweet potato fries are also favorites. For the menu, prices and restaurant location, please click on the link above.

After dinner, we had the pleasure of meeting Chef Jesus (Chuy) Trevino, and complimented him on a job well done. Not only does he prepare hearty burgers, but Chuy is a friendly and amenable guy who did not mind us taking dozens of photos - it took that many to get a somewhat good one - before heading back to the kitchen.

The University Draft House's ambiance is ideal for pleasant indoor and outdoor dining. It is a sports-bar like setting with plenty of TV screens, and outside is the place to enjoy the night sky and live music.  More and more i see outdoor dining venues and it is great. For many years people said the Valley was too hot to eat outside in the Summer, but because of our southern breeze Valley evenings are much cooler than evenings further up state. In the Fall and Winter are evenings are fantastic! 

One more thing to love about the Valley. What is your favorite hamburger in the Rio Grande Valley?

 Virginia Haynie Gause is the creator of ArtsRGV.com  where all the Valley's art and cultural events are featured. For a happy and healthy retirement  plan your Winter staycation!

 Author: Nydia Tapia - Gonzales for South Texas Tourism

Culinary Traditions of the Rio Grande Valley

For some complicated reason, we find ourselves attempting to describe the difference between authentic Mexican food and what is served here in the Rio Grande Valley at local establishments labeled as Mexican food.

We know the Rio Grande Valley well, and we know it is the best place to spend time during the winter months for many reasons. But on the top of the list is our food culture. But because we are not food critics, or culinary gurus, we like to read what experts write on the subject to shed light on the characteristics that mark the difference between these two gastronomic traditions.

To fully comprehend the different traditions and variations of Mexican food – recognized by UNESCO as a patrimony to humanity – we look for information to shed some light on the subject. The “Mexican” food we savor in the Valley was somewhat inspired by authentic versions, but is far from being the real thing. So what should we call the food served in the Valley? We cannot dismiss it as a “bastardized northern Mexico food with too much of everything” as some say, but define it as Robb Walsh does.

According to this interview we found online, Robb Walsh, author of The Hot Sauce Cookbook, explains why Tex-Mex is a legitimate American cuisine. He said it has been in Texas for a long time, dating all the way back to the Spanish missions, but we always called it Mexican food. He refers to Diana Kennedy’s book Cuisines of Mexico where she writes about what most of us deduce; that so-called Mexican food north of the border is not really Mexican food.

Tex-Mex is a Texas version of Mexican food and it is a commercial cuisine for the most part. It mostly exists in restaurants, but it was adapted from Tejano home cooking. The Spanish pulled out of Texas in the late 1700s and left behind Spanish-speaking mission Indians who became known as the Tejanos. They came from Native American stock and they were really not Mexicans; they had never lived in Mexico. They had been acculturated by the Spanish missionaries here in Texas.

Tex-Mex cuisine is descended from their tradition, and also from a lot of Canary Islanders who were brought to San Antonio by the Spanish to try to expand the colonization of Texas. The Canary Islanders brought with them a Berber flavor signature — Moroccan food. There was a lot of cumin, garlic and chili, and those flavors, which are really dominant in chili con carne, became the flavor signature of Tex-Mex. It is very different from Mexican food people enjoy in Mexico. Diana Kennedy is prone to say that Tex-Mex includes way too much cumin. But if you compare it to Arab food, you suddenly understand where that flavor signature comes from. The Splendid Table interview by Francis Lam.

So that explains the cumin! And the hard shells, and the ground beef, sour cream, chili sauce, and American cheese. It’s Tex-Mex! But it is also important to note that the Valley boasts a good number of authentic Mexican food restaurants that have opened since the influx of Mexican Nationals investing in the Valley began. But even those have somewhat adapted dishes to cater to the local culture. Mi Puebito and Gazpacho’s in Brownsville. Arturo’s in Weslaco and in Nuevo Progreso, Mexico, El Pastor in McAllen, and La Fogata in Mission are among the restaurants where people delight on authentic Mexican dishes.

Even better are the prices! In some of these Mexican food establishments, lunch specials range from $4 to $7 dollars! These are large portions too. Another reason to spend time with us in the Rio Grande Valley.  

Two Rio Grande Valley cities on the Top Ten List of Least Expensive Places to Live.

Article Featured on CBS Money Website

Number 1: Harlingen, Texas. As the tough economic times continue in the U.S., many people are looking to cut down on their expenses by moving to more affordable cities and towns. But where to go? The Council for Community and Economic Research, a nonprofit group that provides information on local economic trends, recently compared the cost of living in 306 urban areas in the U.S. Based on the price of housing, utilities, grocery items, transportation, health care, and miscellaneous goods and services, here is a look at the least expensive cities around the country to live in.

The town with the nation's lowest cost of living is Harlingen, Texas, located in the state's southernmost tip and with a population of 74,950. The after-tax cost to maintain a standard of living enjoyed by the average company manager or other professional is roughly 17 percent lower than the national average. A pound of ground beef in Harlingen costs $2.35, compared with $3.30 nationally as of January, while a night out at the movies will run you $9. The average price of a home is $229,558.

Number 3: McAllen, Texas. The average cost of a home in McAllen, Texas, the third-least expensive community in the country, is $178,000, while a two-bedroom/two-bath apartment rents for $708. The cost of living in McAllen, population of 130,831, is 16.2 percent cheaper than the national average.

Because of our affordability, the friendliness of our people and the numerous outdoor activities, the Rio Grande Valley is a top destination for retirees. There is no better place than the Valley!