Skip to main content

Gribblenación México; Camino Real between Zacoalco de Torres and San Marcos

By

Camino Real is a 12.6-kilometer rural highway located in southern Jalisco.  Said corridor was the original highway which connected the communities of Zacoalco de Torres and San Marcos and forms a semi-circle of Laguna San Marcos.  Camino Real is comprised of a paved cobblestone segment near Zacoalco de Torres and a dirt portion east of Federal Highway 54D.  Numerous ranching properties and agave farms can be found along the dirt portion.  Functionally Camino Real has been replaced by modern Jalisco State Highway 402 in modern times. 




A drive on Camino Real between Zacoalco de Torres and San Marcos Evangelista

Zacoalco de Torres and San Marcos are both located on opposite on sides of Laguna San Marcos in southern Jalisco.  Camino Real is the original highway which connected the two towns.

The entomology of "Zacoalco" comes from the word "Tzacoalco" which is thought to have meant "place of confinement," "in the pyramind," or "place where eagles perch."  The area that is now Zacoalco de Torres was settled by the Aztecs in 1264.  The Aztecs settled upon Chiquihuitillo Hill which rests between Laguna de Zacoalco and Laguna de San Marcos.  In 1524 the Spanish arrived in the Aztec lands surrounding Laguna de Zacoalco.  Most Aztecs fled to the south towards Laguna de Sayula in response to Spanish Conquistador Francisco Cortes de San Buenaventura attempting to subdue them by force.  The Spanish invasion prompted the commissioning of the Town of Zacoalco.

In 1810 during the Mexican War of Independence the Town of Zacoalco was taken by revolutionary Jose Antonio Torres during the Battle of Zacoalco.  The Town of Zacoalco was renamed to Zacoalco de Torres in 1829 in memory of Jose Antonio Torres and the battle which took place there.  During Mexican rule Zacoalco de Torres mostly came to be known for the numerous homemade wood furniture (equipales) stores which are located in the town. 

What is now San Marcos was the site of a Toltec village which was called Chistic or Xistic.  The area was extensively visited by the Spanish after the founding of nearby Zacoalco.  A village was plotted at the site of San Marcos during June 1740.  Upon San Marcos being annexed into the then new state of Jalisco in 1823 the community was under the governance of Etzatlán Township.  San Marcos was legally designated a town during April 1907 and later a Municipality seat in 1915.  

Camino Real can be seen connecting Zacoalco de Torres to San Marcos on the 1922 Direccion de Estudios Geograficos y Climatologicos map.  The highway is shown circling the southern and eastern shores of Laguna San Marcos.  In modern times Jalisco State Highway 402 has functionally replaced Camino Real as the primary corridor into San Marcos.  Said State Highway originates at Jalisco State Highway 401 near Acatlán de Juárez and tracks east to San Marcos via San José de los Pozos.


From Zacoalco de Torres traffic can follow Pino Suárez north over the Ferromex railroad towards a terminus at Camino Real.  


Camino Real within Zacoalco de Torres is a paved with cobblestone.  The highway approaches Federal Highway 54D and dips underneath the Autopista via a dirt underpass.  










Camino Real becomes a grade dirt roadway east of Federal Highway 54D.  The corridor swings north towards San Marcos along the eastern shore of Laguna San Marcos.  


The portion of Camino Real east of Federal Highway 54D provides access to numerous agave farms and ranching plots which line the foothills of the nearby mountains.  













Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The case to move Interstate 73 in Southern Ohio onto US 33

By
Every decade or so, Ohio pushes to revisit the proposed Interstate 73 that would connect Michigan to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.  It's been happening since Congress legislated the route in 1991.  Within Ohio, Interstate 73 generally follows the US 23 corridor from Portsmouth through Columbus to Toledo, and into Michigan. Since High Priority Corridor Five was created , Ohio has really done nothing to move forward with Interstate 73.  Sure, there have been feasibility studies here and there.  But actual dollars and construction just haven't occurred. The US 33 Nelsonville Bypass appears to have been built to Interstate standards. However, Ohio has been slowly upgrading US 33 to a full freeway through Southeastern Ohio.  Bypasses of Lancaster and Nelsonville opened in 2004 and 2013, respectively.  Other sections of two-lane road are being twinned, some to freeway or, at a minimum, to expressway standards.  Currently, a $274 million widening project in...
Post a Comment
Read more

Local Sign Find - The last remnant of Business Interstate 95 between Kenly and Rocky Mount , NC

By
As you head north on Interstate 95 at Exit 107 for Kenly and US 301, you'll notice something odd about the overhead sign for the exit.  Peeling off the sign for all that can see is the word 'NORTH' off-center from the US 301.  This old sign (probably close to original from when this section of I-95 opened - more on that in a little bit) gives a hint to a short-lived Business Interstate Route that ran from here to Rocky Mount. The last hint of the Kenly-Wilson-Rocky Mount Business I-95 (Shaun White - August 2020) Interstate 95 in North Carolina has a unique history.  But one of the overlooked and forgotten pieces of Interstate 95 in North Carolina is the 38 mile section between Kenly and Rocky Mount.  When opened to traffic in late 1978, it was the next to last piece of Interstate 95 in North Carolina to open replacing a four lane US 301 from Battleboro through Rocky Mount and Wilson to eventually tying back into the Interstate in Kenly. Though it was not delayed in l...
Post a Comment
Read more

Nostalgia fast food with style - Returning to Rax

By
Nostalgia. It sells. It evokes, and more accurately, warps memories of days gone by.  Things were better, simpler, and we eat it up. Nostalgia can make you drive three hours and over a hundred miles out of your way just to reconnect with a dying fast-food restaurant you last enjoyed in the early to mid-90s.  That person was me - that restaurant was Rax. I could go on about Rax's history, but in short, Rax was briefly a very popular roast beef fast-food chain.  Growing up in the 80s and early 90s in Western PA, Rax was the good fast-food spot.  The milkshakes.  (Personally, the chocolate chip milkshake was heaven.)  Uncle Alligator Kids Meal with the chocolate chip cookie. Take that McDonald's Happy Meal!  The fancy salad and hot foods bar.  Going to Rax was special.  Like so many similar restaurants, various investments, management decisions, etc., led Rax to almost disappear overnight.  By the time I graduated college in late 1999, abou...
Post a Comment
Read more