Guest Spotlight: Fredonia Rebellion Helen C. Huffty, Texas Historian

The history of Nacogdoches started in 1716 when the Mission Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe de los Nacogdoches was opened as a Catholic mission to serve the local Caddo tribe.

For more than a century, the multicultural haven would test religious freedoms, push political boundaries and eventually give birth to an independent nation. Considered one of the most dynamic paradigms in the history of the United States, Antonio Gil y’Barbo was commissioned as presidio of Los Adaes in 1729, current day Louisiana, where he was responsible for easing tension between an every-growing Anglo settler population, hostile native tribes and French occupation threatening established boundaries of Mexican territories. Stone Fort Antonio Gil y’Barbo was a pioneering settler of Nacogdoches, Old Stone Fort visionary and has been dubbed by many historians as a “prolific trader and smuggler”. Originally the presidio of Los Adaes, in current day Louisiana, it was y’Barbo’s responsibility to mediate an increasing Anglo-settler population, hostile native tribes and French occupation of Mexico’s most east territory.

Around 1790, as was the Spanish custom, the Nacogdoches pueblo was laid out with a central plaza district that nurtured commercial and public life of early settlers. In response to a booming economy, y’Barbo constructed the Old Stone Fort to facilitate the trade of cattle, horses, deer skins and other contraband restricted by Mexico, Spain and the United States. In prelude to the Fredonia Rebellion, Benjamin Haden, brother to Empresario Haden Edwards, led several followers to capture the building in 1826. Shortly thereafter, and with the help from Stephen F. Austin who advised the Edwards’ brothers against the Fredonia Rebellion, Col. Jose de Las Piedras used the structure as a headquarters for the Spanish military. John S. Roberts, one of the signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence, became in possession of the Old Stone Fort in 1838. Roberts, a former sheriff of Natchitoches, had participated in the battle of Nacogdoches in 1832 and Siege of Bexar in 1835. He operated a variety of commercial ventures in the structure before selling it to Williams and Charles Perkins.

The Old Stone Fort is currently exhibiting El Camino Real de los Tejas and in part Building Nacogdoches 1716– 2016. Highlighting the rich history and focusing on the people that lived and traveled along one of the oldest highways in the United States. Explore antiques that reveal the trading post, private home, church, jail, saloon and other functions the Old Stone Fort served as for early settlers.

Sterne Hoya House Adolphus Sterne served multiple sessions in the Texas House of Representatives and texas State Senate. Sterne was employed by a passport office in Germany before becoming conscripted for military service. That’s when our Texas Revolution financier forged his own passport and found himself in mercantile employment in New Orleans in 1817. Sterne has been documented as a member of the Masonic lodge, including the Scottish Rite, an affiliation that would better serve him in securing his influence over the Republic of Texas. His ambitions allowed him to extend his peddling trade from Louisiana to Nashville, where he would form lasting relationships with Sam Houston, the father of Texas. After establishing a mercantile house in Nacogdoches, Texas in 1826, Sterne aligned himself with the Republic of Fredonia and smuggled guns, ammunition and other contraband in the barrels of coffee. 

Word had spread as deep into New Orleans as his Masonic ties had, in which Sterne was arrested, tried for treason, and sentenced to death. Some historians believe that it was his Masonic patronage that allowed him to be incarcerated at the Old Stone Fort and eventually released from custody on the premise that he would never take up arms against the government again. Sam Houston went to Texas a well-known frontiersman, revered as a Tennessee governor and once considered President Andrew Jackson’s protege. After the failure of his first marriage, which ultimately cost him re-election for governorship of Tennessee, Houston braved the East Texas frontier where he lodged at Adolphus Sterne’s boarding house. As a Mexican requirement for land ownership, Houston was baptized into the Catholic faith in the front parlor of the Sterne home at the corner of Lanana and Pilar streets. You can visit the Sterne-Hoya House Museum and Library located on its original site in downtown Nacogdoches. The home is furnished with more than just period antiques, but house some of the most unique family heirlooms and displays early Texas culture such as other famous guests like Davy Crockett.

The Fredonia Hotel Hotel Fredonia first opened their doors on April 1, 1955 by Jack McKinney, and has remained the center of excitement in Nacogdoches throughout the decades. The word “Fredonia” is derived from the word “Freedom”, which represents Nacogdoches when it was the headquarters of The Republic of Fredonia, an independent movement to secede from Mexico for Texas Independence. The hotel is revered for uniquely integrating Texas charm with timeless opulence. They offer their services as a historic luxury boutique hotel located downtown of the Oldest Town in Texas and is less than a mile from Stephen F. Austin State University. And are dedicated to commemorating the legacy of Nacogdoches’ past while offering the amenities and technologies of tomorrow.

The six-story Hotel Fredonia is characterized by its slab-like tower surrounded by a one-story semi-circular wing that houses cabana suites, and wraps around an interior courtyard and swimming pool that hosts movies on an outdoor screen. The traditional pueblo concept is reinforced by a community-supported economic development effort and is considered to be a rare, local example of a modified and small-scale international style building. The Fredonia Hotel reopened its doors in 2017 as plush, elegant and vibrant. Including a newly renovated boutique that offers a unique and intimate experience that will not only enhance your stay in Nacogdoches, but become the reason you want to come back. Staying at the Fredonia Hotel has been considered the official connection often missing from an authentic Nacogdoches experience. ★