At 45 miles southeast of Houston on the Gulf of Mexico, Galveston is at once close and a world apart. Walk, run or bike on the Historic Seawall, take in the renovated Victorian architecture of a 19th century dowager, a dozen historic museums, boat tours, stimulate the kids' imaginations at a world class aquarium and rain forest, stroll into surviving nightclubs from gangster days, dig for treasure buried by Pirate Jean Laffite, enjoy the sublime qualities of a nature preserve and visit the hallowed site of the first Juneteenth festival. Or check out the 200,000-person strong Kappa Beach Party.
Older than Houston, Galveston has that perfect combination of renovated architecture, unique Indian and American history, and beachfront vitality which brews into a fascinating gumbo for tourists. Prior to the 1900 Hurricane, Galveston was known as the "Wall Street of the Southwest." Wealthy Galveston merchants built one of America's largest district having fancy ironwork facades. A hundred years later you can splurge in shops and restaurants in this beautiful historic district', where many of the buildings survived the great 1900 Hurricane and the 2008 Hurricane.
Galveston Island offers temperate weather year-round, and has four historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places, which include The Strand National Historic Landmark District, East End Historic District, Silk Stocking District and Central Business District. It is also home to three National Historic Landmarks including the Tall Ship ELISSA,. East End, and it has 1,500 historic buildings on the The Strand. Few people outside Texas know that Galveston Island was second only to Ellis Island as an immigration station.
Families love Galveston Island for Moody Gardens which includes a Rainforest Pyramid, IMAX 3D Theater, Palm Beach, Discovery Museum, Ridefilm Theater, Aquarium Pyramid and Colonel Paddlewheel and they love Galveston Island's Schlitterbahn Waterpark.
Galveston will always hold a special place in the hearts of African American. For it was here at Ashton Villa that Texans finally heard that the Civil War had ended and all remaining slaves were freed on 19 June 1865. From that date, annual Juneteenth festivals have sprouted nationwide.
Preservation and historic renovation are more than buzzwords here. The Historic Seawall, built after the devastation of the great hurricane to protect the island, also features the world's longest mural from 61st to 25th Streets.
RESEARCH CREDITS:
Thomas Dorsey
BLACK CULTURAL TRAVEL MADE EASY