On Memorial Day this year we visited The Alamo. At the link you will find a drawing depicting the original Alamo - the purple dotted line shows what is still standing in place.   The only parts left are the Church (the building almost everyone believes "is" the Alamo) and part of the Long Barracks where the bloodiest fighting took place.

At the time of the battle - the church had no roof.  There is a roof now there is also a flagstone floor (which no one mentioned but I have to believe it was also added much later).

There are no photos allowed in the building. But it doesn't really matter.  You have to visit and see it and hear the stories. 

As you approach this is what you see.



Yes, that's the church back there just to the right of the street light.  To get some idea of how much has been developed... where you see the people walking on the left - that would have been just inside the original fort wall.

Now I'm not sure what is with all the Segway's, but we saw many of them down in Austin and San Antonio. This group was apparently getting ready to go for some sort of tour.  They were pausing for a photo op - so I took a photo. heh.



Yes, over to the left of them is the Long Barracks.



There are still these water troughs and now they have coy in them.  Somehow I don't think coy were part of the original Alamo lifestyle.



Gorgeous grounds.  Very well kept.





This building houses the "gift shop and Bowie knife museum".  It's not part of the original although it looks like it could be.



There are a number of canon monuments.



The memorial plaque to William Travis. 



Then we saw this guy sitting out in the heat with some interesting looking guns and such.



Turns out he is an Alamo buff (amateur historian of the Alamo) and he let us know there is a place just across the street with a diorama of the Alamo.  For $3 you can see the entire set up and listen to a short talk showing who fought where and how.  They also have a glassed in part of the floor where they've done some digging and found things like buttons, knives and even an unexploded canon ball.  It's in this tiny little building.



And strangely enough it's owned by Phil Collins - yes the musician.  He narrated the story for the diorama!  Who knew.  I guess once he heard the story of the Alamo it intrigued him and he became a fan of the Alamo.


It was more than worth the $3.  If you get to the Alamo - please do not miss it!

Back outside again.

There is a memorial on the site.  However, if you look at that row of buildings behind the memorial - that was where the original wall was. I think now it's all a Ripley's Believe it or Not. I don't know because we didn't walk over. 



This is the back portion of the Long Barracks.  Once again no pics inside. Oh well.  Doesn't much matter - a picture just can't grab the feeling of being there. 



Lovely. 



Looking at the peaceful beauty now, it's hard to believe the ferocious battle fought there.  The men who would not surrender.  No quarter asked or given.  It was a good place to spend Memorial Day. 

Posted by: Teresa in Photos at 10:35 PM | Comments (10) | Add Comment
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