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📱Social and other ways to explore Texas History

Tour with Spotify:
👂Listen: Jean Lafitte
👂Listen: The Strand
👂Listen: Pier 21
👂Listen: Port of Galveston

Interested in information covered in this episode? Dive deeper into the links below! :
Quarantine station
Galveston Naval Museum
Seawolf Park
Texas A&M University at Galveston

Contact us: [email protected]

Transcript:
While standing on Pier 21, you can see Pelican Island across the harbor. Pelican Island can only be accessed by the 51st Street Bridge, which can be seen at the far west end of Galveston Harbor. Today Pelican Island is home to Texas A&M University at Galveston Sea Wolf Park and the Galveston Naval Museum. The Galveston Naval Museum exhibits a World War II destroyer escort, the USS Stewart, and a World War II era submarine, The USS Cavalla. Texas A&M University at Galveston was established in 1965. Prominent Galveston businessman George P. Mitchell donated the land. This campus is currently home to the Texas Maritime Academy, one of the seven maritime academies in the United States. The campus is also world-renowned for its maritime business and marine biology program.
 
The Pelican Island we see today is primarily manmade from mud pulled from the Galveston, Texas City, and Houston ship channels during the Dredging projects over the past century. When a ship channel is deepened and widened, the mud they pull from the ship channel must go somewhere. Pelican Island became the ideal place to expand real estate along the Galveston and Texas City ship channels. Over the past 100 years, Pelican Island has steadily grown into what you see today. When you look at old maps from the 1800s, you will see two small islands north of Galveston itself. These were known as Pelican Island and Pelican Spit. Seawolf Park currently sits at the location of Pelican Spit, and it's also where one of the quarantine stations for immigration was built in the early 1900s. If you have time on your trip to Galveston, I recommend driving to the Far East end of Pelican Island to experience the Galveston Naval Museum in Seawolf Park. 

Seawolf Park is known as a first-class fishing destination in this part of Texas. As you look across the water from Pier 21, you will likely see ships, Oil rigs, tugboats, or all of the above. Pelican Island is home to multiple maritime-related businesses, including dry docks for vessel and oil rig repair, tugboat companies, offshore vessel services, and even a dock specifically made to load

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Enjoy this content? Buy me a book! 📚

📱Social and other ways to explore Texas History

Tour With Spotify:
👂Listen: The Texas Navy
👂Listen: Pelican Island
👂Listen: The Battle of Galveston
👂Listen: Pier 21

Interested in information covered in this episode? Dive deeper into the links below! :
The Port of Galveston - Galveston Wharves
Jean Lafitte
Slave Trade
Cotton

Contact us: [email protected]

Transcript:
The port that built Texas, the Port of Galveston, was established in 1825 by an act of the Mexican Congress when Texas was still a part of Mexico. Galveston Bay and the north side of Galveston Island, however, have been utilized as a safe, natural harbor for sailors long before 1825, before the east end of Galveston Island was expanded to its current location in the late 1800s.

The island had a deep natural inlet. This natural harbor had been used by French and Spanish explorers and even pirates hiding from authorities. In the early 1800s, a pirate named Jean Lafite used this natural harbor as headquarters for an illicit smuggling operation after he was kicked out of New Orleans.

In 1820, the United States Navy forced him out of Galveston. The Port of Galveston was officially established in 1825. The Port of Galveston was home to the Texas Navy during the Texas Revolution. After the Texas Revolution and into the 1850s, Galveston steadily became the center of trade in Texas and was imperative for the United States expansion West.

A United States Customs House was first completed in 1861. Although the Port of Galveston has seen almost any type of cargo that you can fit on a ship, the three principle shipments that built the Port of Galveston throughout the 1800s were cotton, immigrants, and enslaved people. Fifty years before Ellis Island opened, Galveston was a major immigration port immigrants from all over the world came to the United States through Galveston.

Many Texans, especially Galvestonians, can trace their ancestors' immigration records back through the Port of Galveston. Slavery in Texas did not completely cease until June 19th, 1865, also known as Juneteenth. Galveston was one of the largest slave trading ports west of New Orleans. At the end of the Civil War, over 250,000 enslaved people were in Texas. Although Galveston was a slave trading port, records indicate that fewer than 1% of enslaved people lived in Galveston County. 

Many types of cargo were shipped in and out of Galveston. However, cotton was king as the demand for cotton around the world grew exponentially. In the

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📍Visit our interactive map!

Enjoy this content? Buy me a book! 📚

📱Social and other ways to explore Texas History

Tour with Spotify:
👂Listen: Jean Lafitte
👂Listen: The Strand
👂Listen: Pier 21
👂Listen: Port of Galveston
👂Listen: The Battle of Galveston
👂Listen: Kuhns Wharf

Interested in information covered in this episode? Dive deeper into the links below! :
More info on the Texas Navy : Texas Navy Association

The Texian Navy, also known as the First Texas Navy, was the naval branch of the Texian forces during the Texas Revolution. Established in 1835, this Naval force helped the Republic of Texas win independence from the Centralist Republic of Mexico in 1836, with their objectives being to defend the Texas coastline from a Mexican invasion, disrupt Mexican Blockades, and escort rebel ships with volunteers and supplies between Texas and the United States. After the Texans had won independence, The Navy of the Republic of Texas, The Texas Navy, or the Second Texas Navy was established in 1839 with one vessel, the Zavala, and for three years applied naval pressure to the Mexican coast. When Texas officially joined the United States in 1846, the Texas Navy merged with the United States Navy. In this podcast, we will explore the history and legacy of the Texian and Texas Navies, and how they played a crucial role in the fight for Texas independence.

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Galveston Unscripted Digital Market

📍Visit our interactive map!

Enjoy this content? Buy me a book! 📚

📱Social and other ways to explore Texas History

Tour with Spotify:
👂Listen: Port of Galveston
👂Listen: Jean Lafitte
👂Listen: The Strand
👂Listen: Pier 21
👂Listen: Elissa Figurehead Story

Interested in information covered in this episode? Dive deeper into the links below! :
Elissa  : https://www.galvestonhistory.org/sites/1877-tall-ship-elissa-at-the-galveston-historic-seaport

Video story on the Elissa coming to Galveston : https://texasarchive.org/2012_00914

Photos & story of the the model for the Elissa Figurehead:
http://www.oldsaltblog.com/2012/10/figureheads-galvestons-tall-ship-elissa-the-living-figurehead-and-the-yellow-rose/


Transcript:
The Tallship Elissa was launched in October of 1877. She was built in Scotland and has sailed under Scottish, Norwegian, Swedish, and even Greek flags. After nearly a century of sailing the open seas, Elissa fell into disrepair. Various global organizations made several attempts to acquire Elissa from Greece, as she was one of the last of her kind that had survived life at sea. She was finally rescued by the Galveston historical foundation in 1975. She was towed across the Atlantic in 1979 from Piraeus, Greece, to Galveston, where she was met with a full-force restoration project that began upon her arrival. The Elissa has an iron hull and three masts of Douglas fir from Oregon. She has 19 sales made in Maine. Be on the lookout for volunteers at the Galveston Historic Seaport climbing up her masts to practice raising and lowering her sails. Check out the Galveston historic Seaport to tour their Ship to Shore exhibit, as well as a tour of the Elissa.

Key Words: Galveston, Texas, History, Island, Beach, cruise, cruise ship, vacation, Henry Rosenberg, Fountains, East End Historic District, Strand, Seawall, Bolivar, Houston, Audio Tour, Audio Guide, Free Tour, Free in Galveston, Pier 21, Port of Galveston, Pelican Island,

Support the show

Galveston Unscripted Digital Market

Supporters: The Galveston County Museum

📍Visit our interactive map!

Enjoy this content? Buy me a book! 📚

📱Social and other ways to explore Texas History

Tour with Spotify:
👂Listen:  Texas Navy
👂Listen: 1877 Tall Ship Elissa
👂Listen: Pelican Island 
👂Listen: Ocean Star

Interested in the information covered in this episode? Dive deeper into the links below! :
Pier 21
Port of Galveston
Galveston Historic Seaport
Ocean Star Drill rig museum

Support the show

Galveston Unscripted Digital Market

Support the show

Galveston Unscripted Digital Market