Zapata County Museum of History

The Zapata County Museum of History presents a comprehensive storyline divided into ten galleries beginning with the Natural History Gallery that follows the geological formation of the North American continent to the formation of the South Texas biozones. Vitrines display minerals and fossils gathered from the local area. The human imprint is explored in the successive galleries starting with the Native American tribes and their way of life as described meticulously by Spanish explorers in the 1500s. The Spanish Gallery introduces the Age of Discovery and discusses the fundamentals of Spanish customs, religion, and the form of government based on human rights principles codified in the Sixth Century which formed a basis for the first ten amendments to the U. S. Constitution. Vitrines in the Mexican Gallery contain tools used by early settlers in the building trade and ranching including a display of antique saddles. Replicas of a river ferry and a colonial home aptly describe how the first European settlers arrived in the area as well as how they lived their daily lives in the new frontier. The Modern Period includes galleries dedicated to the military, the energy industry, the relocation of villages and towns after the construction of Falcon Dam, and new daily pursuits by local residents with the discovery of vast natural gas fields.