With rich and varied vegetation, plentiful wildlife and easy access to water, the area of present Bastrop County attracted nomadic hunters and gatherers for centuries. Prior to the European-explorers era, the land was home to the Clovis people and later, before and during the explorers era, Native American groups such as the Tonkawa.
European exploration
In 1691, Spanish explorers Domingo Terán de los Ríos and Father Manzanet travelled through the region and crossed the Colorado River in the area of present‐day Bastrop County, and recorded features such as “Shipp’s Lake” (just east of today’s Smithville). The expedition failed, however, to locate a direct route connecting Mexico and the United States because of difficulty passing through the isolated, thick pine forest known as “The Lost Pines” region. The loblolly-pined frontier barrier influenced the routes explorers took.
Even though there were no large settlements in the late 1600s in this exact locale, the 1691 expedition shows that European/Spanish eyes were on this part of Texas very early, which set the stage for later settlement, routes, fortifications, and land‐grants. The presence of natural features (river, forest, crossing) and trails made this region a channel of movement. The development of El Camino Real de los Tejas (aka Old San Antonio Road) through this region in the late 1700s/early 1800s connected Mexico and Louisiana, passing through Bastrop County with a strategic river crossing in Bastrop. The geographic corridor was recognized as strategically important by the Spanish colonial authorities, and served as a waypoint for travel, trade, and military presence.
Around 1804, the Spanish governor Manuel Antonio Cordero y Bustamante established a fort at the Colorado River crossing where the modern town of Bastrop now is. Known as “Puesta del Colorado,” the fort was intended to protect the commerce and the Old San Antonio Road crossing. In his 1807 explorations, U.S. government sent explorer Zebulon Pike who noted that a fort manned by Spanish dragoons existed at the Colorado River crossing at what is now Bastrop.
The region then transitioned to Anglo settlement in the 1820s to 1830s.