Sunday 22nd December 2019
6C – 16C and sunny
We took a drive to Galveston which is actually an island. Of course as you would now come to expect we could drive there because there’s a great bridge joining the mainland to the island. It is a historic settlement of 48,000 people and it became quite prosperous in the 1800’s as a shipping port for cotton. The evidence of the wealthy families and their mansions are everywhere and the historic downtown stretches for several blocks back from the waterfront via neatly cobblestoned streets with step-up footpaths or should I say sidewalks!
We drove on down to the ferry and hitched a ride across to Bolivar Peninsular and back again just to get out onto the water and take a closer look at the Gulf of Mexico. The dolphins were in a feeding frenzy accompanied by the seagulls, brown pelicans and the cormorants,
In 1908 Galveston suffered a major blow when a storm surge hit the city and 5000 people lost their lives. As a result a long seawall was built along the waterfront to protect the settlement.
