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Fr«p«f. Photo hy Bouie S

MOST OF T H E C O A S T Sabine P a s s to B o c a C h i

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l«a O k a . Photo by Bmiie Scatitmi. 1997 (in I n i l I '"< I I

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Ainui Post Lighthouse. I'talo by Bar* Stonluii), 1997

larrie S c a r d i no I lu m i s i ill l in will r< 1^ i',ls'. tn nun.in all like a baseball game — a sea-level Galveston. A lot of vacationers used to tictze — die sounds of crashing waves playing field. come through, hut now no one does. The and sea birds, the smell and taste of salty Huluig into Port Arthur behind the houses and stores of Sabine I'ass (pop. air, the sun setting across shimmering haunches of an oil truck, I felt like a 1,500) are weathered and broken, many water. In perfect weather — when there Guclph lor was it a t ihihellinc; I riding boarded up, and there was no evidence of hasn't been a recent nil spill — you can into San Cimignano when, around a new construction. Those who remained find such idyllic scenes on the Gulf v\ ide bend in th< Ion si lined I' ick ru.nl. on the peninsula worked in the refineries I oast of Texas, hut most of the coast a skyline of oil refinery towers suddenly and oil-related companies back toward is a different story, loomed up in the distance. This was the Port Arthur, but the tourist industry is My journey along the 367-mile (f>24, first clue that the coast of Texas from clearly dead, except tor me. I got JULY if you count the hays) Texas coastline Sabine I'ass to Boca Chica is dominated tions to the state park listed in the guide- began with the idea that I would proceed as much by the oil and petrochemical books and said good-bye. southward from an exotic Cajun/ industry as it is by salt water and sand. At the foot of the Texas-Louisiana Confederate culture with genteel porn To reach Sabine I'ass, I drove through a border, which follows the Sabine River coed architecture to a lively Mexican gigantic web of refinery pipes and cat- through Sabine Lake and our to the Cult culture with brightly colored, flat-roofed walks on the edge of I'nrt Arthur. of Mexico at Sabine I'ass, sleepy marshes buildings, laded from the bleaching sun. Across the causeway, I stopped at Big give way to the oil industry. There the While these stereotypes have some validi- Karl's in Sabine I'ass for iced tea. Aging Sabine I'ass Battleground State Historical ty Lu Minn- Miikmu, \\,i> the sameness "I Hig Karl signs, like the old sequential Park marks the site where 47 Confed- it all — top to bottom. Burma Shave roadside ads, led me there. erates with only six cannons kept what The Texas coast has no equivalent of Big Earl's was a sad case — the gas seemed to have been the whole Union Newport or I'alm Beach. Nor is there a pumps were empty, and a 25-watt bulb navy and army from invading Texas. The five-star RitZ resort with swim-up pool lit the rickety wooden store, where the Dick Dowling Monument, the old Tort bars and Knzio-dcsigned golf courses. stock was pretty low. Miss Betty was fry- Cnffiii hunkers, and five historical mark- Texas's beaches and intracoastal water- ing up chicken while ^n ingenue with ers looked inconsequential next to the ways provide vacationing families with blue nail polish guarded the cash register. offshore-rig construction site next door. fresh air and space, birds and fish, and Conversation came easy; I learned that The parking lot was empty, as were the they provide coastal residents with a slow Sabine I'ass was the victim of a storm RV hookup sites, A long, flat oil tanker, hut generally satisfying li\ ing. Tilink.ilK seven or so years ago that washed Out Al Debttran, glided eerily by on its way tlie coast does change, but culturally it is the road to the Bolivar Peninsula and to the sea with no crew visible, as it the 4 2 f a l l I'J'J 7 . Clii i ')

Part Arthur. Ptwlo by Bo™ Void™. 199/ Port Manifold. Photo by fcnnn Vmino, mi

tall, still cranes on deck were running the boudin stand across the street where sev- gas storage tanks and bobbing pumps. shrimpers, and huge oil tankers eoulJI ship. This close encounter created the eral locals were standing around speaking Rich petroleum deposits were iirst dis- seen passing at the end of the day. It only excitement I felt here, w i t h the pos- Caput French. Here was proof of my covered at I ligh Island in 1916, but more was hard not to notice the sandy, sun- sible exception of reading the unlikely original coastal thesis. recently it has become a famous hird- burned young lovers in skimpy bathing tale of the brave Kate D o r m a n and her Although I had vowed to stay away w. i t J u n g site promoted by the I louston suits standing next to me, obviously Catfish I lotel, which stood on this site in from cities, I ventured into Port A r t h u r Audubon Society. 1 ike Sabine Pass, it returning from a lazy day at the beach. IN47 . The other history is military. Tins looking for evidence ol Janis Jopliu and seemed pretty weathered and w o r n . O n the Calvcston side, cars were lined is the case all the way d o w n the coast. Robert R a use hen berg, its t w o most Pleading d o w n the Bolivar Peninsula, up for over a mile to take the ferry hot With few exceptions, historical mark- famous natives. At the Museum <>1 the I passed one dead armadillo, some poky- after w o r k . ers along the coast tell stories ol obscure Cull Coast, where I discovered them looking cows grazing in hot open fields, Galveston is the most famous heroes of the Mexican War (IS4()s), the both, I watched a movie about the natur- and a few more oil pumps. Bolivar is 27 Texas coast city, and good guides arc Cavil War (I S60s), and the Spanish- al and historical development of the miles long and between one-quarter and available, particularly Ellen Beasley are American War (1890s(. A lot of fighting coast, learning that millennia ago the rhree-and-a-quartcr miles wide. At the Stephen Fox's Galveston Architecture took place on every part of the Texas broad Gulf stretched all the way to narrow spots, the flat treeless landscape (iiiiJcbiHik (Rice University Press, 199 shore, beginning, some say, w i t h the can- Canada, filling the Mississippi River is open to views ol both Fast Bay and the Fhe t o w n is a mix of vacationers and nibal Indians w h o ate interloping Spanish basin Irom the Appalachians to the Gulf of M e x i c o. Scattered stilt houses old Texas families, world-class late-1*1 explorers. Jean l.affite and other notori- loot hills <'l the Rockies. I xhlhits such began to straggle along until they merged century architecture and tourist traps. ous pirates also made bloodcurdling con- as "Jurassic to Janis J o p l i n " and into developments w i t h names such as Fhe island evolved gracefully and had tributions to Texas coast lore. But all "Buccaneers to the Big Bopper" are illus- Sand Castles, Copacabana, Holiday a promising economic future until Sep- those ghosts were hard to feel, except trated w i t h artifacts, tin- 1 *J(IS Sabine Beach, and Noisy Waves. Crystal Beach, tember 1900, when a hurricane caused perhaps among the draping live oaks Pass lighthouse lens, for example. The about halfway to Port Bolivar, is practi- what is still remembered as rhe most UOUnd Matagorda Bay. Otherwise, tin- Rauschenberg r o o m was not a histoid ol cally a city, w i th an A A R P Center and deadly natural disaster in the history spirits of bloody marshes must have drift Rauschenberg's Port Arthur life I he grad- Library, a volunteer fire department, and " I the United States. ed away w i t h nothing to hang o n t o in the uated from high school there in 1943), a hospital complex among touristy I he whole coast ol Texas has lallci empty, Il.it coastal plain that runs along but an exhibition of a few of his smaller bathing suit and beach ball boutiques. prey, at one time or another, to fierce the rest of the coast. paintings. The museum's bizarre collec- Passing Rancho Carribe and kona Kai, I weather, and residents are ever niiiullu i iighway K7 (the washed-out one), tion of decorative arts gathered by Port dually reached Port Bolivar, a fishing and ot the Great 'storm of 1900. Warning I led to an almost deserted Sea Rim State Arthur residents on travels to far thing cattle center. Like Galveston, its big sister terns today should prevent such loss ol Park. The chatty attendant continued places like Taiwan, Japan. France, across the bay. Port Bolivar is a substan- life; evacuation routes away from the that the beaten path had moved else- England, and Austria is a veritable tial t o w n , not just a tourist resort. Most coast are well marked f r o m Sabine Pas where. But because the park is uncrowd antique shop. I followed the driving-tour of the 3,500 lull-time residents commute to Boca Chica. But catastrophic pronti ed and has nice beaches with campsites, brochure to make one great find — the to Galveston or Beaumont-Port Arthur; loss, not to mention constant salt corn self-guided nature trails through the wet- I'ddingston Court gates and w a l l , fash- the rest catch and sell seafood or raise sion and beach erosion, is an ever-pres lands, plus hot showers, it w o u l d be a toned entirely out of 6,000 huge conch cattle and farm. threat. The battered and rusty appear- good place to come back to. The noisy shells imported from the t aym.m Islands The highway department has con- ance of much of the coast is not necesi airboat was not in service, so the adver- in 1929. structed a complex system of traffic lanes ily the result of neglect; it happens whi tised offshore tours had been canceled, I took the long cut around the le uliug to the I'.' 'liv.ii tern landing, Inn you lake a long nap. The hurricane sc, but the Super Gator Airboat Swamp Tour MeFaddin National Wildlife Refuge (one they were empty, so I was happy to find son coincides w i t h summer vacation, { is not too far away in Orange. I turned of many such nature sanctuaries on the instant passage, [ l u r i n g the 20 minute mg thrill-seekers the possibility for sur around at the impasse and retraced im coastl to H i g h Island, where about 500 boat ride most people stayed in their scale waves and w i l d w i n d wit h dram, steps to Big Earl's for a piece ol tried people live on a productive salt dome 45 cars. I ventured up a narrow staircase to lightning and thunder. But those who I chicken. On the wa\ inside, I noticed the leet above sea level, amid rusty oil and the top deck ol the bow, where sailboats. on the coast are not amused. 1 he ecu- Fill I 9 97

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IwL ftolo by tone know, 1497 Port AJMSOI. Photo by toneSconino. Iff/

Kimic reality of coastal living is always a where I drove right up o n t o the sand, hunting preserve. hasn't g r o w n since it was calibrated in catch-up game. which is often possible up and d o w n the Palacios, at the head of Matagorda I 9ft6 at 44 feet tall and .15 feet in circum- Communities around Galveston and Texas coast. I left my car to wander in bay, is famous for the l.uther H o t e l , built ference, w i t h a c r o w n diameter of 89 feet. Trinity bays are generally filled w i t h the waves and enjoy the day's end, but a as the Palacios Hotel in 1905 w i t h the The 30-room George Pulton House was rrlineries and neighborhoods for those radio-blaring pickup came barreling "longest front porch in Texas." When built during the years 1874 to |H7d in ivhowork in them. There are a few down the beach. So much for a moment the I.uthers bought it in 19.16, they spent the Second Kmpire style favored by towns that still thrive on sport and c o m - of peace. five years on a renovation that included wealthy American Victorians. The Texas mercial fishing. Kemah and Sea brook are K'reeport, just across the Brazos River, remodeling the porch and adding plumb- Parks and Wildlife Department has re- wh places, with seafood vendors and is distinguished only by better roads and ing. Today, standard rooms w i th a view stored the house, and it is now a museum funky hangouts on the docks. Along Hay petrochemical plants. The nearby t o w n of are $70 to $75 per night including peace open to the public. I.ike the tree, it is kidgr Road at Morgan's Point is a vestige Junes ( r e e k is more satisfying. There I and quiet, but not phones, faxes, or TVs. well w o r t h a visit. of one of the few summer colonies built encountered the first of the moss -draped The Luther is a remnant of the simple In a hurry to reach Port Aransas, I no [ho coast by wealthy Texans at the live oaks that give this m i d section of the seaside resort of another time. Land- drove fast along the flat coastal plain to mm of the 20th century. Several of the coast, as far south as Roekport, the aura scaped grounds, porch rockers, and a Aransas Pass. The ferry, exactly like the luge Victorian-era houses are extant, of the O l d South along I he Atlantic coast. fishing pier provide the only entertain- bolivar ferry, provides a short ride to including the wood-frame, gmgerhrcad- Now dotted w i t h wildlife refuges, this ment. Don't come here to rent jet skis. Port Aransas on the north tip of Mustang djd R. D. Gribbie House (18941; the part of the coast was first occupied by The fishing and vacation grounds of Island. Terries and bridges are noteworthy D, I. Kennedy House (I89f>), w i t h corner large cotton plantations, many owned the Coastal bend begin in Port Tavaca coastal phenomena. The most impressive »wrs and a centered turret; and the by families w h o had migrated f r o m ("cow p o r t " ) , which rose on the site of bridge ! encountered was the new Bay- ambling |. T. Scott House (ca. 1900), the Southeast. I innville, a t o w n that disappeared after a town-(ioose Creek bridge; the oldest uiha full complement of screen porches The intriguing Peach Point Wildlife Comanche raid that swept d o w n f r o m and ricketiest led to Quintana Beach; wldormcr windows. The Ross Sterling Management Area portal leads onto a the H i l l Country in 1840. Nearby is the and the longest was the Queen Isabella House (1924-27), designed by Alfred C. small road that runs beside a magical oak site of another lost t o w n — Indianola, a Causeway between Port Isabel and South Finn as an imitation of the White House, forest. At the head of the r o a d . Peach seaport that once rivaled Galveston. Padre Island. Bridges and ferryboats sin? grandest summer house built on the Point was locked up tight, but directly Wiped out by hurricanes and high seas provide an important emotional space Texas coast. across was the entrance to Arco's Seaway in 1875 and 1887, Indianola is now a between leaving and arriving. The sounds Past Lake Jackson and Clute ("I Ionic |ones ( reek lank 1 arm. I dn ivi past DO ghost t o w n w i t h only its legends and and smells of the sea rush through open (ilk Great Texas Mosquito Festival"), trespassing signs to find a huge secluded old cemetery. car windows more urgently on a cause mold two Line, high arching bridge area w i t h more large round oil tanks than O n the way to Roekport via Highwa y way or ferry, heightening anticipation. luds to Surfside — the site of Velasco, I could count. Feeling like a spy, I took a .15, the preferred coastal route in these Leaving the Aransas ferry, my excite- i t first landfall lor Stephen K Austin's lot of undercover photographs to docu- parts, 1 stopped in Tivoli (Tyc-VOI I lee) ment about getting to the lighthouse made colonists in 1821. Velasco was destroyed ment [his horrific intrusion across from anticipating a greasy lunch at Marie's, the refineries and docks 1 was beginning completely by a hurricane in I 8 7 J . Stilted Peach Point. which had dosed. Tivoli, like Sabine to accept as part of the Texas coastline bach houses, including the requisite Peach Point was the plantation of Pasv. is not thriving. Roekport, on the seem less intrusive. The privately o w n e d kky fuller geodesic dome — of which Stephen T. Austin's sisrer and brother-in- other hand, is a mecca for snowbirds, Aransas Pass lighthouse is w hen I h IV< tat was an example in every beach law from IS 12, and Austin considered n who retire in substantia! subdivisions seen a triple rainbow after a truly fright- community I investigated — are built up his home. When he died in I S 1ft, his with big lawns and brick houses (not on ening storm; it's where I have caught .u\A ^f views and breezes, but more impor- body was returned to Peach Pome and stiles). Roekport is therefore able to sup- grilled my supper; n's where I've made ttnily, as a precaution against rising was buried nearby. 1 have sniec learned port an arts center, specialty simps, and good friends; and it's where I find un- uriTs. which is sometimes (utile. A little that Peach Point Management Area, w i th other city-type amenities, but Its t w o best matched peacefulness and beauty. From ILT south, .m unsafe-looking old all those fake birds atop its entrance sights are a 1,000-year-old live oak tree the porch of one of the three bouses iiwbridge leads to Quintana beach. sign, is not a wildlife refuge but a and the Pulton Mansion. The Big Oak connected by pierlike catwalks over the 44 I i I I I 'i'i 7 . CMC » 9

marsh flat, 1 saw vivid roseate spoonbills really painted wooden replicas w i t h only her suggestion. lonely road flanked by nothing but mid and split-tail swallows this trip. There are the bill or fin of the real fish?), but w i t h O n the outskirts of Port Isabel, 1 mesquite, cactus, and yucca. A few hisa always seagulls, pelicans, egrets, and great a crystal chandelier hung from the center found the best photo op since Port ical markers along the way tell tales of blue herons. These birds can be found up of the low acoustical-tile ceiling. The Arthur's conch-shell wall — a giant, Cavil War skirmishes and young menlos and d o w n the coast, but this is where I tried shrimp and special avocado salad grand, and grimy octopus lounging on the to the elements and disease while waitttn find them. I listoric lighthouses also dot were great. top of a building. The owner of Sea Cav- in marshy hideouts to fight. The road the Texas coast, but I k n ow this one. Backtracking to 77, I saw my first erns Souvenir Shop said the concrete finally runs right into the C u l t of Mock David I.. Cipra's recent book, / ixlrt- javelina road k i l l , and blooming cacti octopus was constructed in the 1950s across a beach lined w i th old cars and bouses, Lightships, and the Gulf of were everywhere. Along tills r>(t-mile above an open-porch dance hall. Does campers. A rusty red van selling suspi- Mexico, is a treasury ot old photographs desert stretch there is no access to the the Society for the Preservation of t mii- cious-looking facos was the only com- and history that pays homage to these coast, hirst the K i n g Ranch and then the mercial Archaeology k n o w about this? merce I saw. The water is muddy andco powerful forms, which like grain elevators Kenedv, \rmsiroiig , and Vturria ranches I checked in the old Port Isabel Yacht siderahly wanner than the water olt Sur have been rendered almost useless except cover Kenedy County, so private land (:lub 11**26), which is n o w a hotel, after a Padre Island, due no doubt to the sill as for their ability to elegantly punctuate a lines the coast along most of the l.aguna long day of d r i v i n g and cheering for fish. sludge of the Rio Grande emptying into flat landscape. The 50-toot-tall, red-brick Madre. which separates Padre Island This quirky but civilized place had no the G u l f d o w n the way. Aransas Pass lighthouse tower was con- from the levas mainland. This part of the screaming children, a good restaurant, Turning right at the only intersection structed in 1855. After a major shift in drive was boring and hot, but it authenti- and a lot of atmosphere in the Spanish- near the coast. I found a IVfOs-lookin; the l.ydia A n n Channel, the lighthouse cated scenes f r o m the movie Giant. style building overlooking a private m a n - three-street neighborhood. The flat hnuc was decommissioned in 1952. The 191V After Raymondville, where you turn na where respectably sized sailboats cast were dry and dusty like the land, and keepers' cottage, once a duplex for the off for Port Mansfield, the desert visibly mast shadows f r o m the setting sun. A many of them were empty or boarded keeper and his assistant, is a mottled gives way to the fertile Lower Rio Crande small swimming pool surrounded with up. One man was fixing a car in his froo stucco and frame building that needs Valley, fields ot high cotton, corn, sugar- overgrown tropical plants was cool and yard, and a few others were out doing constant attention, cane, and acres ol soybeans, looking ripe deserted, plus it had a side door lo the bar nothing. It was pretty deserted. At the Port Aransas, like other Texas and lush, lined the highways. I arrived in where the bartender was happy to put very end of the last two-block long dirt coastal towns, has no frills, no glitz. It Port Mansfield (which 1 have heard double margaritas in plastic glasses. Why street was a carefully constructed and dms have the 1MV5 Tarpon Inn and the referred to as " C o n v i c t City," presumably would anyone venture across the bridge to maintained grotto sheltering a Madoon newer Tortuga Hats, where you can because parolees have settled there) the the crowded condos of South Padre? For She looked over the little neighborhood, come by boat to enjoy the salty c r o w d last weekend in July to witness at least $4s I had a glorious night's rest in a room not the water. This shrine was the only and margaritas. The townsfolk prefer one big Texas tishing tournament. with one ot those old w i n d o w air condi- sweetness or softness I found in Boca Heulah's. a less touristy, but expensive, The Port Mansfield Pishing Tourn- tioners w i t h no thermostat that hummed Chica, where life is clearly dangerous small restaurant. For those willing to ament was headquartered in an empty sweetly all night as it produced freezing and hard. participate, St. | o s c p h \ Island across seafood warehouse filled for the weekend cold air. There are no roads over the dunes the l.ydia Ann Chanel has a nude beach. with stalls sL'lling beer and souvenirs, Up early, I loaded my courage and that separate the main road from the R» Play lul dolphin are a common site, as is along with weigh stations and finalist camera to assault South Padre Island, Grande. Hut there are occasional patht the Sargasso gulfweed — huge clumps of boards. Outside, bleachers were set up where I knew crowds w o u l d be filling Venturing up one, I came to the river, floating micro-life-infested seaweed that on the dock for spectators. Every rime a the moderately priced hotels and motels which I was shocked to luid isn't jtranit harbors critical food-chain-climbing boat came in, a couple of TV cameramen stretched out along the fine beach. The at all. It is no wider that a two-lane Inc. pi nits and animals, and folks w h o didn't mind the beating place was hopping, new construction way; M e x i c o is literally a stone's throw Culturally, Port Aransas is not as sun rushed over to assess ihe dead fish. everywhere. Three Hags hung in front away. Over the next dune, f found a fish- unsophisticated as it might look — just A fancy inboard with a m o m , dad, of most serious places: Texas, U.S., and erman w h o spoke a little English; 1 asked very accepting. Artists, writers, and other and two boys pulled up, and I hurried Mexico — a nice touch I hadn't seen if this was actually the Rio Grande, productive nonconformists gravitate here over w i t h the rest to see what they had before. Venturing along the road lined Without smiling he said yes and wenl as they do to seacoast villages all over the caught. The bright-eyed oldest boy, about with tourist places to eat, stay, anil spend back to his fishing. At my third and l.w world. The University of Texas M a r i n e I I, with his baseball cap on backwards money, nothing very interesting or lookout, the river seemed even narrowo, Science Institute employs scientists w h o and a terribly dirty T-shirt, jumped up surprising appeared until. prctly far and I noticed white plastic bags snagged study Texas toast il ecosystems, adding on the dock to heft the 45-pound cobia, tip the island, I saw what looked like on trees at the river's edge in Mexico. another element to the local fishing and passed up from his father on the boat architecture. Then I noticed the same thing on my side. industrial population. deck below. Hardly able lo carry the huge The South Padre Island Convention They had been tied there to shine in the Reluctantly leaving Port Aransas, I fish, he rushed u in lo be weighed and Center has llarraganesque walls of splen- dark, markin g a sale crossing point. I headed for N o r t h Padre Island, f i e l d after measured. In a short few minutes he did color and complicated glass and steel- decidi d a was tune to i;,. home. 1 hud field had been hulldo/ed to make way lor returned to the dock shouting at the top frame awnings that jut out and up like the come i" iIn end *>l my lourney at ,i poiu new development stretching out -."inli of ol Ins lungs, " P a d , vve got i t ! " H a v i n g no prow of a ship. To the south of the main where the coast is split by nature and [wi Corpus Christi. One large cornfield w i t h idea what I was cheering for, I broke into building, a window-less •{00-seat confer- itics, where the edge of Texas represents a " c o m i n g s o o n " sign had been sold even whooping and yelling approval wit h the ence theater is covered on the exterior by both a barrier and a new beginning. • before the corn was harvested. N o r t h rest ol the c r o w d . a fanciful mural ot underwater sea lite Padre was nor too impressive: there are a As less fortunate fishermen came in, I titled The Whaling Wall. It was painted few high-rise condos ami a lot

. Bolivar Pmimuk. Phoio by Bant Stotdtno, 199/

Pwt hoW. Pkoto by Borne Ita&u. 1997