Galveston Pix

We split the day between sightseeing and beach time. In the morning we drove to one of the historic districts of Galveston. We focused our attention on the area known as the Strand. The area is just a few blocks from the waterfront of Galveston, which was, prior to the hurricane, the largest port in Texas. The buildings on the Strand survived the 1900 Hurricane as did others in adjacent historic districts of the city.

One the first things we did was to attend a showing of two multimedia presentations. The first told the story of Jean Lafitte, the pirate who fought alongside Andrew Jackson during the War of 1812, Battle of New Orleans and later founded a settlement on Galveston Island. The second presentation was entitled, Great Storm Experience, which told the story of the 1900 Hurricane through the words of survivors. One of the interesting things we learned is that following the storm, a panel of engineers recommended building a sea wall to protect the town and as additional protection, raise the level of the town by as much as fifteen feet. The sea wall protects the major part of the City of Galveston from downtown west to about a 1/4 mile from our campground. Several major storms have hit Galveston in the past 100 years with no significant damage. In 2005, Hurricane Rita was aiming for the town and a mandatory evacuation was ordered. Fortunately for the city, at the last minute the hurricane turned to the east and spared Galveston major damage.

We split the day between sightseeing and beach time. In the morning we drove to one of the historic districts of Galveston. We focused our attention on the area known as the Strand. The area is just a few blocks from the waterfront of Galveston, which was, prior to the hurricane, the largest port in Texas. The buildings on the Strand survived the 1900 Hurricane as did others in adjacent historic districts of the city. One the first things we did was to attend a showing of two multimedia presentations. The first told the story of Jean Lafitte, the pirate who fought alongside Andrew Jackson during the War of 1812, Battle of New Orleans and later founded a settlement on Galveston Island. The second presentation was entitled, Great Storm Experience, which told the story of the 1900 Hurricane through the words of survivors. One of the interesting things we learned is that following the storm, a panel of engineers recommended building a sea wall to protect the town and as additional protection, raise the level of the town by as much as fifteen feet. The sea wall protects the major part of the City of Galveston from downtown west to about a 1/4 mile from our campground. Several major storms have hit Galveston in the past 100 years with no significant damage. In 2005, Hurricane Rita was aiming for the town and a mandatory evacuation was ordered. Fortunately for the city, at the last minute the hurricane turned to the east and spared Galveston major damage.
Galveston Strand Historic District





	I wanted to take Susie to the Peanut Butter Warehouse for a sample, but for some reason she refused.	Two relatively small off-shore drilling rigs. The one on the left, sits in a dry dock.


			The Garten Verein (loosely translated as a garden association) was built by wealthy German residents of Galveston. One of the most unusual buildings in the city, it survived the 1900 Hurricane and is now the centerpiece of a park

	Wherever we travel, I always seem to get at least one picture of Susie with a bear.	As we were leaving the theater showing the Great Storm Experience, right background, we wound up on the wrong side of the track. This train was switching cars and kept going back and forth. When it went forward, we headed towards the back in the hope of getting to the other side. Just as we got there, it switched direction, blocking our path. This went on for 15 minutes before were able to get to the right side of the tracks.

Galveston Strand Historic District