Information provided by the TX Historical Commission – Email: THC@public.govdelivery.com Website: thc.texas.gov Special Thanks to Thaddeus Imerman with Media Relations
SAN AUGUSTINE, TX – Mission Dolores State Historic Site will unveil new interpretive structures designed to help visitors experience life at an 18th-century Spanish mission during a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 1:00 p.m. on Sat., Nov. 14, 2026.
Plans to construct interpretive buildings at the site date back to the 1960s, long before the Texas Historical Commission began operating the site, making the project the culmination of a decades-long vision for Mission Dolores and the city of San Augustine.
“We are honored to see this 60-year dream of the San Augustine community through to completion at Mission Dolores,” said Site Manager Aaron Gates. “The new outdoor structures will help visitors understand this cultural crossroads in the Texas-Louisiana borderlands through the lives of Spanish priests and soldiers, French traders, and the native Ais people at the site in the 18th century.”
New interpretive structures include a chapel, priest’s quarters, and soldiers’ quarters, providing visitors with a better understanding of mission life.
A fourth building, an outdoor kitchen, is projected to be completed over the next year.
The next phase of the project will involve the creation of a French trader’s hut and two Caddo grass huts and is projected to begin in 2028.
Free tours of the grounds and museum will be available after the ceremony.
The Spanish operated Mission Dolores from 1717 to 1719 and again from 1721 to 1773. Typically, one or two Spanish priests as well as a few soldiers and their families lived at the mission. The priests worked to convert the local Ais Native Americans to Roman Catholicism.
For more information, go to visitmissiondolores.com.
About the Texas Historical Commission
The Texas Historical Commission (THC) is the state’s official historic preservation agency. It preserves, operates, and manages 42 state historic sites, the Texas Heritage Trails Program, Texas Main Street Program, Texas Historic Courthouse Preservation Program, and many more heritage tourism and historic preservation initiatives across the state. The THC’s mission is to protect and preserve the state’s historic and prehistoric resources for the use, education, enjoyment, and economic benefit of present and future generations. For more information, visit thc.texas.gov.