About Us
Representatives from eleven 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, DeLeon, Brownwood, Menard, San Saba, 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:
- The Comanche Nation has helped coordinate PCTP goals for a culturally informed return to Texas. The Comanche Nation also guides and advises our partnership regarding a variety of significant issues on the path forward.
- Santa Anna Historical Development Organization has twin mesas towering over the town of Santa Anna as well as the town was named for the Penatuhkah Comanche War Chief Santana/Santa Anna. Santa Anna has been the lead Texas partner with the Comanche Nation since 1993.
- The Texas Forts Trail will coordinate the activities of the various member cities and institutions and protect their shared interests. It will provide resources and common identity to the various members and insure legality and fiscal responsibility to the combined membership.
- The Texas Midwest Community Network will assist member cities and organizations in accessing resources for economic development and deliver communication and support capabilities to members and group. TMCN will help in outreach to non-member cities and institutions in the region;
- Frontier Texas! will allow visitors to relive the Old West through the magic of state-of-the-art technology. Frontier Texas! brings the frontier to life and lets visitors meet people who played out their lives on the Texas frontier.
- Member City Chambers of Commerce and Visitor Bureaus will support the activities of the Penatuhkah Comanche Trails Partnership and coordinate project development around mutual economic development for the Partnership and The Comanche Nation. These members will assist in identifying potential privately owned sites sacred to First American history.
Our 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.
Our 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.
Defending Texas Comanche Land
The heart of Texas Comanche land at the peak of the Comanche horse culture was the region surrounded by the Texas Forts Trail. The reason they built those forts in the mid-1800s was to surround the Penatuhkah Comanche region and open it for a flood of settlers entering the Texas. These settlers came from the United States and many came from Europe. The army and the Texas Ranges did not conquer this land. It was the cholera epidemic of 1849 that killed an estimated half of this band and many of their most important leaders, including the principal War Chief Santa Anna/Santana. The surviving members of this band fled in horror of this epidemic and scattered to other areas. Texas Rangers then occupied Santa Anna’s Peaks, a warrior training camp where they also trained Smoke Signalers. Settlers then moved in and occupied this region.
After almost 175 years have passed, the Comanche Nation and those who now occupy their former homeland are united to fight together to protect this land where they once fought each other for control. There is currently a very serious threat to this region of Texas! A monster, high voltage ONCOR power transmission line is planned to come through the heart of the Penatuhkah Comanche Trails region! It appears that it will disturb burials and destroy Comanche cultural resources that are like an archive documenting Penatuhkah history where it happened. It may also damage scenic vistas and Comanche Traditional Properties in Texas.
We are fighting an uphill battle to try to redirect this ONCOR Transmission Line to an easement that will do much less harm! The beauty and many cultural resources in this area are at risk line. Historic mesas may be damaged. Ranches that have preserved their historic Comanche landscapes and resources are threatened.
The Penatuhkah Comanche Trails Partnership plans for historic tourism and ecotourism are also threatened. We have invested 30 years of planning and development with the Comanche Nation and PCT partners in this plan to make sustainable tourism the preferred economic engine for this trails region. The National Park Service RTCA program helped us plan our goals. We had our preview opening of the PCT in Spring 2025. We were planning our Grand Opening for Spring 2026. And now—with little notice ONCOR planned hearings to advise us of their plans. They did not consult stakeholders to gain feedback about the placement of these proposed easements earlier in the process. They have denied requests to share detailed maps needed to survey for significant resources in harm’s way. Plans for an International Grand Opening of the Penatuhkah Comanche Trails are on hold until this issue is resolved. Penatuhkah Comanche Trails tourism is a very significant economic engine for the entire PCTP region and we have worked hard to develop it. We will now work hard to protect the land and the resources associated with this significant Texas and Comanche history.
We hope you will join the PCTP and help defend this land so important to Texans who now love and occupy it and to the Penatuhkah Comanches who once occupied and defended it and still love it. Here’s are some ways you can help:
Follow this issue here. We will be adding updates and additional ways to assist. Tell your friends about it and share this website with them.
Communicate! Share this information widely and contact your elected representatives and ask for their proactive support. Also contact those who are running for elected office in 2026 and ask for their support. We need some powerful political champions! John Cornyn is powerful and he is running for US Senator in Texas in the next elections. He could be a powerful advocate if he is motivated to do so! https://www.cornyn.senate.gov/contact-john-cornyn/
Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper advocating for preserving Texas Comanche Land. Inform your friends and family about this issue. Post information on social media.
Call or email ONCOR and express your support for finding a less destructive path for this easement. Christine.williams@oncor.com
Attend a meeting if one is near you and express your concerns. We will be posting meeting times and dates.
Who We Are
Comanche Nation of Oklahoma
- The Comanche Nation has, for over 30 years, facilitated a Comanche return to Texas. Comanche leaders including Tribal Chairmen, Tribal Councils and Tribal Preservation Officers, elders and other tradition bearers (historians, spiritual leaders, artists, and descendants of the Penatuhkah Band) have contributed knowledge and helped
coordinate PCTP goals for a culturally informed return to Texas. - They have verified Comanche Traditional Cultural Properties and shared information regarding the
importance of these TCPs. They serve as advisors regarding access to culturally sensitive sites. - The Comanche Nation also guides and advises our partnership regarding a variety of significant issues on the path forward and goals.
Texas Midwest Community Network
Assist member cities and organizations in accessing resources for economic development.
Deliver communication and support capabilities to members and group. Help in outreach to non-member cities and institutions in the region.
San Saba County Historical Museum
Anchor the southeast region of the Penatuhkah Comanche Trails Partnership. Educate citizens on the importance of the transatlantic frontier history between the German founders of Fredericksburg and the Penatuhkah band. A peace treaty between them was signed at San Saba River west of city. This treaty is a rare, if not unique, unbroken Indian treaty. The “White Path” of peace from Santa Anna Peaks, through San Saba and many other significant Penatuhkah destinations, to Fredericksburg provides an inspiring example of how we should treat each other if we want peace.
Legacy Plaza Botanical Garden and Native American Interpretive Center
Legacy Plaza, consisting of The Texas Botanical Gardens and The Goldthwaite Welcome Center includes the Native American Interpretive Center, which exhibits ancient Texans’ use of local plants and waterways and shows the impact the natural environment of Central Texas had on their social, educational, spiritual, and cultural lives. Legacy Plaza also offers a variety of on- and off-site educational programming for children and adults alike through field trips, presentations, and interactive hands-on experiences.
Menard County Historical Society
Anchor the southwest region of the Penatuhkah Comanche Trails Partnership. The Menard County Historical Society is formed for historical and literary purposes in regard to the preservation and documentation of the people, places, and events pertinent to the history of Menard County.
Santa Anna Historical Development Organization
The twin mesas towering over the town of Santa Anna were named for the Penatuhkah Comanche War Chief Santana/Santa Anna. The town also carries his name. These peaks were the military center of Comanche power at the zenith of the horse culture in Texas. This town has a contemporary treaty of peace and friendship with the Comanche Nation. Santa Anna has been the lead Texas partner with the Comanche Nation since 1993 and continues in this role.
Brown County Museum of History
The Brown County Museum of History, Inc., exists to preserve the tangible evidence of our heritage and to educate the public through exhibits and interpretive programs. The main building at 209 North Broadway houses displays – mainly interactive – relevant to Brown County from prehistory to the present. The museum also maintains and provides tours of the four-story Brown County Jail, built in 1903 and located across the street from the main building.
Texas Forts Trails
Provide resources and common identity to the various members.
Provide legality and fiscal responsibility to the combined membership and administer grants.
Member City Chambers of Commerce and Visitor
Bureaus Support the activities of the Penatuhkah Comanche Trails Partnership. Coordinate project development around mutual economic development for stakeholders. Assist in identifying (and protecting site confidently as needed or requested) relevant cultural and natural resources on privately owned sites that may be Traditional Cultural Properties associated with Penatuhkah Comanche history and heritage.
Mills County Historical Museum
The mission statement of the Mills County Historical Museum has been to acquire, preserve, and interpret items from or related to Mills County that have historical significance to the residents and visitors of the county.
As one enters the museum, a painted mural of the first courthouse is seen as the backdrop for the first car registered in Mills County. The museum is housed in a building that was erected in 1893 and a second story was added in 1906.
The residents of Mills County are very proud of the numerous authenticated Indian sites located on private lands here. Visiting the Mills County Historical Museum will open a world of Penantuhkah relics which includes an extensive arrowhead and tool collection as well as historical documentation of the last two Indian massacres in the county.
Get Involved
Address
P.O. Box 3
Santa Anna, TX 76878
Get Directions
INFORMATION CENTER HOURS
Thurs – Sat : 10am – 6pm