CITE OF ROMA, TEXAS…FOUNDED 1765

Saturday, February 2 - Our second stop of our "Making Memories With Friends" tour was in Roma, Texas.

In November 1993, the 9-square block area around Roma Plaza was designated a National Historic Landmark District, the highest designation for historic properties in the U.S. There isn't much going on in "downtown" Roma any longer. Our group decided to take the self-guided walking tour to understand the town better. There are over 30 historic building in Roma.

There isn't much left of the Plaza.

Manuel Guerra residence and store was built in 1884. The prominent two-story structure is the crown jewel of restored buildings in Roma.

Across from City Hall is a remarkable building once dubbed a "cantina"(bar). Roma residents would arrive on horseback to have a good time drinking. The word "BEER" still appears on the side of the building as an invitation to passerbys.

The two-story John Vale/Noah Cox House, built in 1853 by Swedish immigrant John Vale. Noah Cox purchased the property in 1856 and operated a mercantile establishment on the first floor, while living upstairs.

Our Lady of Refuge Church was built in 1965 after the old church was torn down. The Tower is part of the old church which was erected in 1854.

Roma is right on the U.S. and Mexico border. Across a narrow part of the river is Mexico.

Mexican park at the edge of the river with a neighborhood in the background.

One of the reason we wanted to visit Roma was to see the World Birding Center.

Unfortunate the windy conditions caused the birds to stay home and not visit the many feeders located at the center.

We did see several different butterflies.

This tree is native to south Texas. The volunteer thought it is called the Texas Ebony. If anyone knows if this is called something else, please let us know. We couldn't believe the volunteer didn't know for sure the name.

Close up look at the pods on the tree.

We did enjoy walking through the historic town of Roma.

We received an email from Shoeless Joe, John, about a firefight held in the Falcon Dam area and Rio Grande City, the topic of our next blog. These shooting happened one day after our visit. The Good Lord was looking over us again. If you would like to read about the gun fire, please click here.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all back real soon. Have a great day!