The Port Of Galveston

posted by admin on Jan 24

Coming down the coastal prairie from Houston on Interstate 45, you can smell the ghosts before you can see or hear them. They smell sweet and moldy, like the unfocused memory of some lost sensation jarred unexpectedly to mind . — from chapter oneGalveston — a small, flat island off the Texas Gulf coast — has seen some of the state s most amazing history and fascinating people. First settled by the Karankawa Indians, long suspected of cannibalism, it was where the stranded Cabeza de Vaca came ashore in the 16th century. Pirate Jean Lafitte used it as a hideout in the early 1800s and both General Sam Houston and General James Long (with his wife, Jane, the Mother of Texas ) stayed on its shores. More modern notable names on the island include Robert Kleberg and the Moody, Sealy and Kempner families who dominated commerce and society well into the twentieth century.Captured by both sides during the Civil War and the scene of a devastating sea battle, the city flourished during Reconstruction and became a lead

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