The Alamo is operated by the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, who work hard to maintain the mystique and the solemnity of the site. The original Alamo was a large walled complex. The barracks has been turned into a museum with the obligatory movie. A sign calls for quiet and asks gentlemen to remove their hats. Otherwise noisy tourists and boisterous schoolchildren settle down.
Voices fall to a whisper.
Exhibits in the side chapels show Davy Crockett's rifle and Jim Bowie's knife. Plaques memorialize the names of each and every man who was killed. A guide gives a lecture, giving the context and the details of the siege and the assault, distinguishing between fact and legend, and drawing on contemporary research while exposing the weak case of the debunkers. The effect is solemn, moving, inspiring. One comes away with the sense of having really encountered history, not just as some long-ago event, but something that has genuine meaning, both for then and for now.