Stories Bigger Than Texas: The Alamo Podcast
Episode 140: The Paseo Del Alamo

It’s another exciting milestone in the Alamo Plan: the reopening of the Paseo del Alamo. The Paseo connects the Alamo – the number-one most-visited tourist destination in Texas – with the River Walk, the second most-visited spot.
 
We reveal how this vital connection will enhance the guest experience, why it’s just the latest way the Alamo is connecting downtown, and how this investment will create a powerful sense of arrival to the historic site. Featuring Alamo Trust, Inc., President & CEO Secretary Hope Andrade and Alamo Senior Curator & Historian Ernesto Rodriguez.

See video of Paseo del Alamo: https://youtu.be/rizi2ExcyNs?si=L-3S0d3XPQcJ3C0s
See video of the Promenade: https://youtu.be/aFrtJR3ta9c?si=DGeYcYH39g0GdmI4
See photo of the Promenade: https://www.facebook.com/OfficialAlamo/posts/pfbid0eDgCG9y6q9wbYkuGaDzfd4hNE9mJhNJj7rxy6RhGQyuyhymB3eiC7LK7JzHTCRb2l
See the final beam being placed atop future Alamo Visitor Center & Museum: https://youtu.be/mKcXbrCXuPE?si=76SKwEtEio4arJlN

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Stories Bigger Than Texas: The Alamo Podcast
Episode 139: The Esparza Family Reunion
 
Two brothers, Gregorio and Francisco Esparza, fought on opposite sides of the Texas Revolution. During the Battle of the Alamo, Gregorio manned a cannon inside the Alamo Church while his wife and children huddled for safety just steps away in the Sacristy.
 
We reveal how, 190 years later, the Esparza family carries on their legacies, the artifacts that have survived the centuries, and how a family reunion this summer ensures their stories are never forgotten. Featuring Esparza descendants Peggy Huizar Guerrero, Erlinda Huizar, and Benny Garza.

See Gregorio Esparza portrait: https://www.facebook.com/OfficialAlamo/posts/pfbid02oE8PRnvjvgjG1CnKV8am4EfwXddXWUY4MM7BmuSYwk7w7S6QSupbfFQkJWiB51tyl
See Isabel Esparza wedding jacket: https://www.facebook.com/EmilyBaucumSATX/posts/this-satin-brocade-wedding-jacket-was-worn-in-1893-by-isabel-esparza-the-grandda/858688762286874/
Esparza family website: https://gregorioesparzaalamodescendants.org

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Stories Bigger Than Texas: The Alamo Podcast
Episode 138: How Texas Became A State
 
As we prepare to celebrate America’s 250th birthday, we’re taking a look at how Texas became a part of these United States.
 
We reveal why Texas traded its status as an independent nation, how American presidents of the time felt about adding another state, and the impact made across the country by the Lone Star State. Featuring Dr. Don Frazier from The Texas Center at Schreiner University.

Read former Alamo curator Dr. Bruce Winders' essay on Texas annexation: https://www.thealamo.org/remember/military-occupation/independence-and-annexation
See etching of Texas Annexation ceremony: https://www.thealamo.org/remember/military-occupation
Join the Alamo on July 4: https://www.thealamo.org/visit/independence-day

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Stories Bigger Than Texas: The Alamo Podcast
Episode 137: The Art Of Dueling
 
In the early years of the United States and the Republic of Texas, duels were how gentlemen settled scores. There were rules, witnesses, and honor at stake.
 
We reveal how duels worked, the famous Texans who took part in them, and how a famous Alamo defender is forever known for his role in a duel. Featuring the Alamo's Senior Researcher & Historian Kolby Lanham.

Read Texas State Historical Association on dueling in early Texas: https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/dueling-in-the-republic-of-texas

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Stories Bigger Than Texas: The Alamo Podcast
Episode 136: Lights, Camera, Alamo!
 
Lights, camera, Alamo! Our Shrine of Texas Liberty has lit up the big screen for as long as filmmaking has been around.
 
We reveal insider stories from the set, why Hollywood kept turning to the Alamo for inspiration, and how screenplays – no matter how dramatized – fostered very real passion for history. Featuring author, filmmaker, and film historian Frank Thompson.

More on Frank Thompson's books: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B001HCX1Z6?ingress=0&visitId=bd201313-661b-4275-8864-ae10b197bfe2&ref_=aufs_ap_ahdr_dsk_ab&ccs_id=d4af1645-e487-43ed-b958-4a7a09a39bd5

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Stories Bigger Than Texas: The Alamo Podcast
Episode 135: Texas Trades

Leather working, blacksmithing, and fabric weaving: these skills are considered a bit antiquated today, but they were essential for surviving frontier life in 1830s Texas.
 
We reveal how the Alamo’s living historians learned their trades, the ways they keep old-fashioned techniques alive in the modern-day world, and the event taking place at the Alamo this weekend where you can learn about these Texas Trades. Featuring the Alamo's Senior Manger of Living History Robin Haynie; the Alamo's Senior Manager of Living History Vincent Yannicelli; Alamo living historian Mike Baehre; and Alamo wardrobe speciality Mike Weil.

Attend Texas Trades at the Alamo: https://www.thealamo.org/visit/texas-trades
Watch video on the Alamo's Living History Encampment: https://youtu.be/9HTQAw8XHzs?si=AC2zngf2gdUi4sqv
Watch video on the Alamo's daily musket firing demonstrations: https://youtu.be/wmYkTgKW5JE?si=hF-Ite4B3nilyuec

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Stories Bigger Than Texas: The Alamo Podcast
Episode 134: The Alamo Funeral Pyre Mystery
 
History makes clear: the bodies of the men who died defending the Alamo on March 6, 1836, were burned in a funeral pyre. But an enduring mystery has been, how many pyres there were?
 
We reveal how this mystery of history persists, why some eyewitness accounts have been called into question, and the prominent figures who have added to the debate. Featuring the Alamo's former curator Dr. Bruce Winders and Ron Current from the Still Current blog.

Read the Still Current blog: https://stillcurrent.blog

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Stories Bigger Than Texas: The Alamo Podcast
Episode 133: The Alamo De Parras Company

If 1836 is the year we learned to Remember the Alamo, then 1803 is the year the Alamo became the Alamo. That’s when a group of soldiers from Alamo de Parras, Mexico, settled within the walls of an old Spanish mission, and changed the course of history.
 
We reveal why the Alamo Company came to San Antonio, how the town learned to call the mission by a new name, and why its soldiers were repeatedly called to make difficult decisions while staring down two revolutions. Featuring the Alamo's Senior Curator, Historian, & Lecturer Ernesto Rodriguez.

See Andres Benites Courbiere sword: https://www.thealamo.org/fileadmin/assets/remember/podcast/andres_benites_courbiere_sword.jpg
See 1805 plat showing how Spanish planned to convert the old mission convent into a military barracks: https://www.thealamo.org/fileadmin/_processed_/6/3/csm_37104-5-large_5bc2ccea74.jpg

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Stories Bigger Than Texas: The Alamo Podcast
Episode 132: The Treaties Of Velasco

May 14, 1836. On this day 190 years ago, the Texas Revolution ended – not with the firing of a weapon, but with the stroke of a pen.
 
We reveal how the Treaty of Velasco brokered peace between Texas and Mexico, why a secret, private treaty was also signed that day, and how Santa Anna played both governments’ self-interests to broker his own survival. Featuring historian and author Dr. Stephen Hardin.

See the treaty documents: https://www.tsl.texas.gov/treasures/republic/velasco-01.html
See newspaper reprint from the Alamo Collection: https://www.facebook.com/EmilyBaucumSATX/posts/pfbid0HWebjsQPsdRQHTrnMcX7mUeni7Jrj5RSYuEuj9MdBTCg4zRrvWuBwKv9D4PDAat2l
Bonus Rewind Episode ⏮️ "San Jacinto's Infamous Prisoner" - https://youtu.be/T7XRysS5qBQ?si=mEOR_osEmsDEiYYy

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Stories Bigger Than Texas: The Alamo Podcast
Episode 131: Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders
 
Just footsteps from where the world-famous Battle of the Alamo was fought, a new generation of frontiersman stepped up to fight for freedom. Legend has it, a future president recruited them inside the Menger Hotel bar - and with their signatures, wrote a new chapter of the Alamo’s already storied history.
 
We reveal why Theodore Roosevelt formed the Rough Riders, where in San Antonio they trained, and how the Alamo remembers the Rough Riders legacy today. Featuring the Alamo's Researcher Thomas Ledesma.

View photo of the Alamo's Roosevelt statue: https://www.facebook.com/EmilyBaucumSATX/posts/pfbid02UuAVPucQ5ugWa5YpUckgxjmXj9AspZz4eQcfzcq3abxrWWXihAhVi8mRNWbxLqv6l
View photo of the war souvenir coconut on display: https://www.facebook.com/EmilyBaucumSATX/posts/pfbid0RtCnehBzqSHLb3fT5NuZiTu4i78Qni4h5R4pgdU37AwnyHXht7bbipRfqrRmSGFCl
National Park Service essay on the Rough Riders: https://www.nps.gov/thrb/learn/historyculture/tr-rr-spanamwar.htm
Theodore Roosevelt Association essay on the Rough Riders: https://www.theodoreroosevelt.org/content.aspx?page_id=22&club_id=991271&module_id=339473

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