06/04/2025
This is the original Vidaurri rancho at Los Corralitos, six miles north of San Ygnacio. Dating to 1783, this house is a stone box, with walls half covered by locally made stucco concocted from cactus juice and pulverized limestone. It is one of the oldest existing structures in Texas. The walls are 33" thick. Instead of windows, gunports pierce the walls and punctuate the roofline (you can see them quite easily in the photo). Near the floor on one interior wall, where the original plaster has been preserved, someone etched the beginnings of a six-petaled flower into the stucco, together with a cross inside a circle. This primitive decoration amplifies the starkness of the single long room and amplifies the simple, stark reality of 19th Century life. Los Corralitos was built to endure the harsh climate. In that simple mix of form, material, and function, a raw beauty emerges. Incidentally, the mesquite wood extensions at the corners of the door are called “manitas”. When it rained a lot or something was full people would say “está hasta las manitas,” which meant it was full. The reference is to the water level rising to the manitas, which must have happened after a terrible flood. When I took this photo, I could almost hear a woman's voice gently singing "Duermete me nino. Duermete pedazo de mi corazon" and rocking a crib in the corner.
Isn't it amazing to think that, as the American Revolution was being fought along the eastern seaboard of the United States, this house was being constructed 2,000 miles away? It was built to withstand the elements and has done exactly that. And can you imagine being inside and hearing Comanches around the building? Alternatively, can you imagine being a Comanche and, perhaps, never having seen any kind of solid building ever in your life and coming upon this building with its 33" thick walls?
This is one of my own photos, taken in 2015.
