We woke this morning to thunderstorms and pouring rain. It came down steady all day with no sign of it letting up. Everything we want to see is outdoors so that means we’re staying in today. We are not happy campers.
So I figured I’d check online to see what I could find out about this Army base we’re on. Turns out there is a lot of history here!
First things first, Fort Sam is HUGE at three thousand three hundred acres.
It is the base where the first military aviation flight took place.
Fort Sam Houston is known as the "Home of Army Medicine" and "Home of the Combat Medic." At the end of World War II the Army decided to make Fort Sam Houston the principal medical training facility. In conjunction with this decision came the determination to develop Brooke General Hospital into one of the Army's premier medical centers. As of 2007, Fort Sam Houston is the largest and most important military medical training facility in the world.
There is a national cemetery on the grounds and these perfectly straight rows of white headstones seem to go on forever….row after row after row. Way too many. I found it to be very upsetting and couldn’t lift my camera to take a picture.
Construction at Fort Sam Houston began in the middle 1870s. Today, as one of the Army's oldest installations, and with more than 900 buildings in its historic districts, Fort Sam Houston boasts one of the largest collection of historic military post structures. The significant contributions of Fort Sam Houston to the United States were recognized in 1975 when the post was designated as a National Historic Landmark.
Right now Fort Sam, as it is generally known, is undergoing a $2,800,000.00 renovation and expansion. Buildings are being totally refurbished from the studs out, new buildings are being built all over the place, roads are being fixed and the place is a real pain to get around due to road closures. Right now, A GPS is totally worthless on base.
The Fort Sam Houston Quadrangle is the oldest structure at Fort Sam Houston. It was originally a supply depot, and during that time, it also housed Geronimo and those Apaches captured with him while the Federal government decided whether they were prisoners of war or common criminals. Legend has it that the deer in the Quadrangle were there because Geronimo refused to eat food he did not hunt. Actually, the deer pre-date Geronimo in the Quadrangle, he ate the same rations as the soldiers, and no one really knows why the deer are there, but they and peacocks on the grounds are quite happy. The Quadrangle is now an office complex housing the commanding general and staff of U.S. Army North. This was on my list of places to visit but the weather had other ideas.
Even more important than the number of buildings is the historical integrity of the post's different sections, which represent different eras of construction. Careful preservation of these areas allows the post to live with its history, surrounded by the traditions established when the first soldier arrived here in 1845.
I did manage to get this picture of one of the older buildings on base. It is a building of religion as all faiths are ministered to at different times.
I really with the weather had been more cooperative as there are really some beautiful areas and buildings on this post. Guess that means we’ll just have to come back here.
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