Preserve the Alamo: Objectives and Results of the Alamo Church and Long Barrack Restoration Project

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Mission San Antonio de Valero and the Alamo – A Construction History from Mission to Military Fortress, Texas, United States", at the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

In 2018, preservation experts at Mission San Antonio de Valero, or the Alamo, constructed a plan to address the deterioration of the centuries-old Church and Long Barrack. The poor state of the buildings was not unknown, as rising damp was previously detected in the Church. However, the preservation team wanted to investigate additional contributing factors. A large-scale, multidisciplinary below grade project was needed to understand the construction of foundations, identify the critical dimensions of the buildings, and monitor the impact of moisture content and movement. Nineteen excavation units were placed in strategic locations against the Church and Long Barrack walls, as well as in the courtyard. The archaeological investigations allowed the preservation experts to document existing conditions and thus develop a plan to address any architectural issues. The results of the project have long-reaching implications for the preservation of the structures and have added to our knowledge of the site.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Mission San Antonio de Valero and the Alamo – A Construction History from Mission to Military Fortress, Texas, United States   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2025

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow