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REST IN PEACE #4 LbNA #6127

Owner:Busy Bee
Plant date:Oct 18, 2003
Location:
City:Helena
County:Karnes
State:Texas
Boxes:1
Found by: Baby Bear
Last found:Dec 15, 2003
Status:Faaaa
Last edited:Oct 18, 2003
Reported missing 11/05

Helena is near the intersection of State Highway 80 and Farm Road 81, on the east side of a bend of the San Antonio River in Karnes County. Although it is practically a ghost town today, for many years it was the most important city between San Antonio and Goliad. It was also notorious for it's wild and brutal lawlessness. Since Spanish colonial times the La Bahía Road, later to be called the Chihuahua Road or Ox-Cart Trail, ran from San Antonio to La Bahía (now Goliad) and the Texas coast. Along this road was carried the rich trade with Mexico and points west. To read more about the town, follow this link:

http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/view/HH/hnh18.html

The Mexican Cemetery, on Farm Road 81, roughly northwest, had a tragic beginning. To find this letterbox, enter the cemetery, and go to the grave under the shelter, that gave the cemetery it's beginning. Read the newspaper article, under glass, that tells some of the story of little Cristobal. Then walk directly north from the shelter's edge to the fenceline. Behind a small thorny bush covered in Alamo vine (at least as of October 2003) find this special letterbox.

You can read more about the cemetery (although some of the 'facts' in the article are wrong), plus see photos, on this site:
http://www.texasescapes.com/TexasGhostTowns/HelenaTexas/HelenaTx5Cemetery.htm

Be respectful, and do not take or move anything. WATCH FOR SNAKES and rehide the letterbox carefully.