Galveston, Texas

We loved this little island. It’s on the Gulf Coast and has so much character and charm. The history has been enlightening, and unfortunately, so much of it tragic. It’s definitely been an experience. 

This is were Juneteenth originated. It was here on June 19th 1865  that the Union Army, General Gordon Granger and 2,000 federal troops arrived to formally inform the enslaved  Black and African American people (about a quarter million) that the Emancipation Proclamation has freed them. 

January 1, 1863 was the day Lincoln proclaimed the end of slavery. It took over 2 years to get that information to Texas and finally to Galveston, Texas. This was primarily due to travel time since Texas was so big. Mail and verbal communication during the time period had to be delivered by horseback, wagon or on foot. 

The island of Galveston Texas belonged to Mexico, then Spain, then Mexico after they defeated Spain. Now it’s part of the United States. Many slaves were brought here by boat and there were three large plantations on this island. Generally they produced Cotton. 

Pirates continued to use this port to transport their cargo, including (freed) enslaved people, usually stolen from other vessels or from towns. 

The history here is rich in resilience. In 1900 the entire island was hit by a massive hurricane and it destroyed almost everything. Over 8,000 people died and 10,000 were left homeless. I’m sharing the Galveston history link below. 

https://www.galvestonhistorycenter.org/digitized-collections/1900-storm-victim-database

Our stay was four days, had we known there was so much to explore we’d have stayed longer. We took one full day to drive to Houston Texas to visit NASA, it was an hour away so we made it fit into one day. The dogs got to stay at a daycare and get groomed. They also got to play with two Huskies. 

We are on our way to Louisiana, we will be staying between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Looking forward to the new history lesson. Unfortunately, it’s supposed to rain most of the week we are there, but we got the gear to handle whatever weather we encounter.

 I’ll add more captions with the pictures. Entering Galveston in the evening! So Tired!!!

 

         

                

      

      Sea Wall on the Gulf and Beach Pics.

       

   

          Not me! I am not that brave!!

    

      Playing on the Beach, Jamaica Island 

      

 Houses along the Beach.

 Most on Stilts since they have hurricanes and flooding here quite often. 

        

      

          

             University of Texas Medical School

      Strand Street, Mardi Gras is in February 

      

                      Freedom Walk Mural and Statue 

.         Historic Church’s Downtown 

                       Historical Haunted Mansion 

              Amusement Park on the Sea Wall 

         

                 The Port had a couple Cruise ships!

       

        

                           Mickey Mouse Cruise Ship! 

Lots of Old cemeteries along the roadsides. 

      

Tired Dogs! Down day for all of us before the next 6 hour drive.