PenatuhkahComanche

Trails Partnership

Welcome To The Penatuhkah Comanche Trails Partnership

The Penatuhkah Comanche Trails Partnership is a coalition of Chambers of Commerce, Visitors Bureaus, historical non-profits, the Comanche Nation of Oklahoma, and private landowners in the area. This Central Texas association plans to develop a landscape conservation plan to protect and interpret the traditional lands and resources of the Penatuhkah Band of the Comanche people as well as promote heritage tourism in the region.

The Penatuhkah Comanche Trails Partnership encompasses approximately 15,000 square miles in the heart of Texas. This area coincides with the homeland of the Penatuhkah band of the Comanche Nation from about 1750 to 1875. The views, ecology, heritage, and history of this area sacred to the southern Comanche lend it tremendous potential to provide tourism opportunities for Texans seeking to learn of the extent of the great Comanche Empire.

About Us

Representatives from nine communities as well as landowners of archeological sites in this area have united in a common effort under the auspices of the Comanche Nation of Oklahoma to stimulate heritage tourism across the region. Towns represented included Goldthwaite, Paint Rock, Ballinger, Coleman, Comanche, Early, San Saba, Abilene, Brownwood and Santa Anna. Also involved are the Executive Directors of the Texas Forts Trail and the Texas Midwest Community Network.

Organization

Key partners in the Penatuhkah Comanche Trails Partnership and their roles include the following:

Comanche Nation of Oklahoma (LINK)

The Texas Forts Trail (LINK)

The Texas Midwest Community Network (LINK)

Santa Anna Historical Development Organization

Frontier Texas (Link)

San Saba County Historical Museum (LINK)

Comanche County Historical Museum (LINK)

Member City Chambers of Commerce and Visitor Bureaus

DETAILS HERE

Mission

The Penatuhkah Comanche Trails Association promotes the restoration, conservation and interpretation of Comanche Traditional Cultural Properties (TCPs) and the history and traditions of the Penatuhkah Comanche band in Texas. This partnership creates economic opportunities for all partners through heritage and ecotourism programs that tell the stories of this significant history at the places where it happened and encouraging a Comanche presence in their Texas homeland.

Goals

The Penatuhkah Comanche Trails Partnership will use its expertise concerning the significant Traditional Cultural Properties (TCP) in our target area to agree on the suitable purposes of those TCPs and restore them to Comanche awareness and use. The Penatuhkah Comanche Trails Partnership is knowledgeable of places other than TCPs in our target area that can tell the Penatuhkah story and will develop ways to tell the story. And the Penatuhkah Comanche Trails Partnership will deliver programs that promote the areas Penatuhkah Comanche history and its economic development.

TRAILS MAP

Upcoming Events

MEMBERSHIP MEETING

Next Date To Be Determined

11 A.M.

Location Coming soon

– At the zenith of the “horse culture”, Comanches may have possessed as many as 10,000 horses.

Resources

Pelon, Linda Nash. Issues in Penatuhkah Comanche Ethnohistory (Thesis), Arlington, TX: University of Texas at Arlington, 1993.

Hämäläinen, Pekka . Comanche Empire, New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, 2008.

Pelon, Linda. Texas Comanche Land Revisited, Abilene, Texas: H. V. Chapman and Sons, 2019.

The Comanche Empire

Pekka Hamalainen

Comanche Land Revisited

Linda Nash Pelon

Comanche Marker Trees of Texas

Steve Houser, Linda Pelon, Jimmy Arterberry

Get Involved

The Penatuhkah Comanche Trails Partnership has spent the last two years developing programs and opportunities for you to get involved in a variety of ways. From civic leaders who are already making an impact in their communities to people looking for a place to volunteer, you are invited to explore our work and dive in. We’re building a team that anyone can join, and we hope you’ll be a part of it.

Donate to Support

Trail Map