Discovering the Long-Lost Original Location of Mission Espiritu Santo

The public is invited to join VC's Museum of the Costal Bend for Discovering the Long-Lost Original Location of Mission Espiritu Santo.

 In December 2025, Dr. Tamra Walter, an associate professor of archaeology at Texas Tech University, led a team searching for the first location of Mission Nuestra Señora del Espíritu Santo de Zúñiga. In this presentation, Walter discusses her team’s discovery of the original mission site on what is now a private ranch in Jackson County, Texas. She examines the settlement’s brief occupation from roughly 1721 to 1726 before the mission moved to Mission Valley. The final location in Goliad features a reconstructed mission that hosts thousands of visitors annually. Read more about Walter’s research and the team’s findings in her book, Espiritu Santo de Zuniga: A Frontier Mission in South Texas, available for purchase in the museum store.

If you're a museum member, VC employees, or VC student, please register in advance for free here.

Non-members can purchase their tickets here. 

Limited seating. Advance registration required. Tickets are $15; FREE for museum members, VC employees & students.