| |
| Twin
Snowy Egret's (approx. 5 weeks old) at Smith Oaks Rookery, High Island. Photo
courtesy Rodger Whatley, April
18, 2006 |
History
in a Pecan Shell
Appropriately
named, High Island's altitude of 38-feet makes it the highest point on the Gulf
Coast between Mobile, Alabama, and Campeche, Mexico. The name is credited to Anson
Jones who referred to the area as "the High Islands" in 1845. Jean Lafitte's
cabin boy retired there in the 1870s. His house was restored in the 1970s and
he's buried nearby. Naturally, there are rumors of a buried treasure.
The
first Anglo settler moved to High Island in 1845. The area didn't gather a population
- except when storms hit the coast. A post office wasn't opened until 1897. In
the 1890s the the mineral springs were purchased and promoted. The business, which
thrived in the late 1890s, was destroyed in the 1900 storm.
An initial
search for oil after the Spindletop
discovery proved fruitless, but it was finally discovered in the 1930s - providing
an economic boost to the region. |
Bird
Sanctuaries Today,
touism drives the High Island economy with two bird sanctuaries as well as a fishing
pier.
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High Island
Related StoriesBolivar
Peninsula: Scene of Slaving, Smuggling, Filibustering and Farms by
By W. T. Block ("Cannonball Tales" Column)
Very few areas of
Texas can claim a longer time span of written history than can that thirty-mile
sliver of sand known as Bolivar Peninsula...
The
Longest Train Ride by C. F. Eckhardt
"Train #1 of the Gulf &
Interstate Railroad, left Beaumont, Texas, at 7:00 AM on September 8, 1900, to
make the run to Port Bolivar, about 85 miles away by modern highway... G&I #1
was on High Island, within 11 miles of Port Bolivar, when the storm surge came
in. When it receded Engine #4 and her tender were buried to the domes in sand,
the baggage car had been rolled and tumbled 500 feet across the flats, and the
head-end revenue and passenger cars were scattered from Hell to breakfast across
the salt marsh. Thirty miles of track had been swept away... |
High
Island, Texas ForumSubject:
Image from High Island TX
I
live in Webster TX. I am a Wildlife/Nature photographer . I took these Twin Snowy
Egret's (approx. 5 weeks old) at Smith Oaks Rookery, High Island TX. It's a Wonderful
place to share Nature/Wildlife. - Rodger Whatley, April 18, 2006
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