Presidio La Bahía, Military museum in Goliad, United States

Presidio La Bahía is a stone fortress with thick walls, guard towers, and a central courtyard where the Our Lady of Loreto Chapel stands. The compound includes barracks areas, storage rooms, and officers' quarters that show how a Spanish military outpost was organized.

Presidio La Bahía was founded in 1721 by the Marquis de San Miguel de Aguayo on the ruins of the French Fort Saint Louis, then moved to the Guadalupe River in 1726 and to its present site on the San Antonio River in 1747. Rebuilt in stone by 1771, it was captured by the Republican Army of the North in 1813 and by the Long Expedition in 1821. In October 1835 Texian insurgents took it after a 30-minute battle and renamed it Fort Defiance; in March 1836 the Texian captives were executed outside its walls in the Goliad massacre.

The chapel inside the courtyard shows Spanish colonial design with vaulted ceilings and religious artwork from different periods. The rooms reflect how soldiers and their families lived and worshipped together in this place.

The site is easy to reach and offers both day visits and overnight stays in the restored officers' quarters. Wear sturdy shoes since the pathways over the stone fortress are uneven.

The presidio is owned by the Catholic Diocese of Victoria, not the state park system that manages neighbouring Goliad sites, and it is run as a public museum. Just outside the walls stands the Fannin Memorial Monument, commemorating the Texians executed here on March 27, 1836.