467 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the nearest 200 are listed here — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.
-
Liverpool, TX
Liverpool, Texas, has a rich history dating back to 1827 when a trading post was established. The settlement came into existence in 1834, and by 1837, the town was formally established. It played a significant role as a…
-
Liverpool Post Office
· 0.1 mi · Historical Marker
Liverpool, officially founded in 1837, received most of its mail by boat via Galveston or Velasco before the 1840s. Warren D. C. Hall (1788-1867), a leader in the Texas revolution and former secretary of war in the…
-
Beard, Andrew Jackson
· 0.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
Andrew Jackson Beard, son of William and Martha (Harris) Beard, was born in Missouri on May 29, 1814. He moved to Liverpool, Texas, with his parents in 1831, and shortly thereafter to Big Creek, where he later bought…
-
Callihan, Thomas Jefferson
· 0.8 mi · Historical Marker
A San Jacinto veteran, born in Illinois, May 10, 1817; died May 21, 1880. His wife Johanne Bishoff Callihan, born in Germany, March 18, 1839; died March 1, 1925.
-
Liverpool Cemetery
· 0.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Liverpool Cemetery, a final resting place for folks in a town that started as a Chocolate Bayou shipping point back in 1837. They named this place Liverpool, after the famous English port. Burials…
-
The Port on the Prairie
· 2.6 mi
Right now, you're just a few miles from the coast, but it's hard to imagine this quiet area as a shipping port. Yet that's exactly what Liverpool was built to be. It started as a trading post around 1827 and was founded…
-
The Bayou That Built a Town
· 2.6 mi
The very existence of Liverpool is a story of hydrology and engineering. The town was built on the banks of Chocolate Bayou, which isn't a river, but a tidal bayou. This means its water level and flow are directly…
-
The Great Storm of 1900
· 2.6 mi
In September 1900, the deadliest natural disaster in American history struck the Texas coast: the Galveston Hurricane. Galveston Island took the worst of it, but the storm's fury reached far inland, right here toward…
-
The Founders' Cemetery
· 2.6 mi
If you want to connect with Liverpool's deepest roots, look for the Liverpool Cemetery — but know that it is the town's second one. Liverpool started as a trading post around 1827 and was laid out in 1837 as a Chocolate…
-
Vicinity of Oyster Creek and Chocolate Bayou
· 2.7 mi · Historical Marker
Most early Texas homes and towns were built along streams that provided water for people and livestock, and travel for boats said to be capable of "floating on a heavy dew". Oyster Creek served, 1822-1861, as such a…
-
Danbury, TX
· 6.0 mi
Folks driving through on Highway 35 might not realize the quiet history tucked away in Danbury. It’s a place where rice fields stretch out under the big Texas sky, and you’re more likely to see an alligator sunning…
-
Danbury, TX
· 6.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Danbury, Texas, a town that owes its very existence to the railroad. Back in 1905, this area was just ranches and farms, but the Missouri Pacific Railroad changed everything. It opened up rich…
-
Texas HS Football 2026 District Watch: Logan Bures of Ganado (Danbury, TX)
· 6.2 mi
Danbury shares District fifteen, two-A Division One, with Ganado this fall — which puts one of the preseason players to watch on the district slate. Logan Bures played a big part in Ganado's state title team as a…
-
First Methodist Church of Alvin
· 8.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the First Methodist Church of Alvin, a congregation that's been serving this community for over a century. It all started back in 1881 when a traveling preacher, Reverend Peter Nicholson, founded the…
-
The Hometown Hall-of-Famer
· 8.2 mi
Most small towns don't have a living legend, but Alvin does: Nolan Ryan. Before he was the 'Ryan Express,' a Hall of Fame pitcher with a record-setting seven no-hitters, he was just a kid from Alvin. He honed his famous…
-
The Day the Hurricane Came Inland
· 8.2 mi
On September 8th, 1900, the deadliest natural disaster in U.S. history flattened Galveston, about thirty miles from here. But the storm's fury didn't stop at the coast. The hurricane's winds and water swept inland, and…
-
The Strawberry Capital of Texas
· 8.2 mi
For decades, if you said 'Alvin,' people thought of one thing: strawberries. Farmers found the sandy loam here was made for them, and by the 1910s Alvin was a genuine powerhouse. One 1912 account has growers shipping…
-
Alvin, TX
· 8.2 mi
On July 25, 1979, Tropical Storm Claudette stalled over Alvin, leading to an unprecedented amount of rainfall. The region received 45 inches of rain in 42 hours, including 43 inches in just 24 hours, which was the…
-
Dairyland and the Tortilla Burger
· 8.5 mi
Dairyland has been Alvin's hometown drive-in since 1960, the kind of old-school local burger stand that outlasts most of the chains that try to crowd it out. Its signature is the Tortilla Burger, a hometown invention…
-
Old City Cemetery
· 8.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Alvin's Old City Cemetery, which became Oak Park Cemetery in 1953. Established as the city's first burial ground, it was acquired by the city in 1892. Look for the oldest readable stone, marking the…
-
Alvin High School (Nolan Ryan)
· 8.6 mi
Alvin High School (802 South Johnson St., Alvin, TX) launched Nolan Ryan, baseball's all-time strikeout king. In the spring of 1965 he went 19-3 with 211 strikeouts and carried the Alvin Yellow Jackets to the Texas…
-
Birchfield - McCown House
· 8.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're cruising past the Birchfield-McCown House in Alvin, a Victorian beauty built in 1894 by A.J. Birchfield, the first editor of the Alvin Sun. This grand 12-room house wasn't just a home; it was a sanctuary. During…
-
Cummings - Smith House
· 8.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Cummings-Smith House, a Victorian beauty with a story of survival. After the devastating 1900 Galveston hurricane wiped out his home, banker Oscar Cummings decided to rebuild. He hired Booth and…
-
First Presbyterian Church of alvin
· 8.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Alvin, and right here is the site of the First Presbyterian Church. Its story starts back in 1890, when families moved here for farm work. Among them were Presbyterians who, with help from the…
-
42 Inches in One Day: The Night Alvin Set America's Rainfall Record
· 9.1 mi
Tropical Storm Claudette stalled after landfall on July 24, 1979, pinned by a blocking ridge, and unloaded on the coastal plain. An observer in Alvin measured 42 inches of rain in 24 hours on July 25-26, 1979, a new…
-
How a Skinny Alvin Teenager Became Baseball's Strikeout King
· 9.1 mi
Nolan Ryan was born in Refugio, but he was only a few weeks old when his family moved to Alvin, and this is the town that made him. He worked his way up through Alvin's youth leagues and pitched at Alvin High School,…
-
43 Inches of Rain in One Day
· 9.1 mi
On July 25 and 26, 1979, the slow-moving remains of Tropical Storm Claudette parked over the Alvin area and dumped 43 inches of rain in just 24 hours at a gauge near town. That figure stood as the United States 24-hour…
-
Nolan Ryan Hometown - Alvin
· 9.1 mi · Historical Marker
Lynn Nolan Ryan Jr. grew up delivering newspapers from a bicycle in this quiet Gulf Coast town south of Houston, and his right arm would become the most feared weapon in baseball history. He threw harder than anyone who…
-
The Town Whose First Post Office Was a Railroad Boxcar
· 9.1 mi
Alvin grew up around a Santa Fe Railway cattle-loading point near Mustang Bayou, in the flat coastal prairie south of Houston. A railroad employee named Alvin Morgan arrived in the 1870s, built a home here in 1879, and…
-
When Alvin Was a Gulf Coast Fruit Boomtown
· 9.1 mi
It's hard to picture now, but in the 1890s Alvin briefly boomed as a Gulf Coast fruit town. The surrounding coastal prairie turned out prolific harvests of strawberries, pears, figs, and vegetables, and the town built a…
-
Nearly Erased Twice in Two Years
· 9.1 mi
Downtown Alvin took two staggering blows in quick succession at the turn of the century. First the 1900 Galveston hurricane, the deadliest disaster in American history, swept inland and destroyed or damaged most of…
-
The Victorian Cottage With an Outhouse-Library
· 9.1 mi
The Slover-Rogers Cottage looks like a miniature storybook mansion dropped into Alvin. It was built around 1900 by John G. Slover, a Civil War veteran, using salvaged wood from the Great Storm of 1900, the same…
-
Alvin's Experimental Geothermal Well
· 9.1 mi
In 1978, Alvin Community College teamed up with the University of Texas at Austin to chase an unusual idea: pulling energy out of hot, deeply buried, high-pressure water trapped beneath the Gulf Coast. That made Alvin…
-
The Museum in the Old Post Office
· 9.1 mi
The Alvin Historical Museum sits inside the town's former post-office building, which is a fitting home given that Alvin's very first post office was a converted railroad boxcar. Inside, the museum walks you through the…
-
The 1907 Depot on the Santa Fe Line
· 9.1 mi
The preserved Alvin Historic Train Depot, built in 1907, is a direct link back to the railroad that created the town in the first place. Alvin started as a Santa Fe cattle-loading point, and for decades the depot was…
-
Joe's Barbeque on Highway 6
· 9.1 mi
Joe's Barbeque is one of Alvin's longtime Highway 6 landmarks, and like a lot of great Texas barbecue joints it started small. Joe Saladino opened his first place as a four-table barbecue restaurant in nearby Manvel…
-
Alvin, TX
· 9.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
Alvin is twelve miles southeast of Houston in northeast Brazoria County, on land originally granted to the Houston Tap and Brazoria Railroad. In the 1860s the Santa Fe Railroad established a flag station near the head…
-
Richardson, Stephen
· 9.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
Stephen Richardson, one of Stephen F. Austin 's Old Three Hundred colonists, soldier, and supporter of the Texas Revolution , was born at Mount Desert Island, Maine, on June 1, 1794. He served in the War of 1812 under…
-
Stanton, George Elliott
· 9.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
Right here in Alvin, George Elliott Stanton took a humble wood and coal yard and transformed it into the first shopping center in town. He and his father started E.J. Stanton and Son back in 1921, selling fuel. By 1922,…
-
Confederate Cemetery
· 9.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Confederate Cemetery in Alvin. Established in the 1890s by John A. Wharton Camp, U.C.V., this was originally a burial ground for Confederate veterans and their families. Later, its use was…
-
Froberg's Farm and Alvin's Living Fruit Legacy
· 10.0 mi
Froberg's Farm is the place where Alvin's old fruit-boom identity is still alive and you can taste it. The Froberg family has farmed in the Alvin area since 1936, which ties the operation directly back to the era when…
-
The Town Named for a Ship That Didn't Wreck Here
· 10.3 mi
The third of Santa Fe's parent communities, Algoa, carries the best name-origin puzzle of the bunch. For years locals told a romantic story: that Algoa was christened after a British steamship, the Algoaian, that was…
-
Johnston, Albert Sidney
· 10.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Bonney, Texas, where a major figure in American military history once called home. Albert Sidney Johnston, born in Kentucky in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1803</say-as>, graduated from…
-
Runge Park
· 11.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're cruising through Santa Fe, heading past Runge Park. This spot was set aside way back in 1890 by Galveston businessman Henry J. Runge, the European-educated son of a German immigrant. He laid out the town of…
-
Rosharon, TX
· 11.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Rosharon, a town with a name that sounds like a gentle blessing, but it started with a practical stop. In 1859, this place was just a railroad stop called Masterson's Station. Locals knew it as…
-
The Fancy Inn Built to Sell the Swamp
· 11.3 mi
Land promotion in the 1890s was a hard sell, and Arcadia's founders knew it. The settlement on Hall's Bayou started as a railroad stop called Hall's Station, laid out by Henry Runge in 1890 along the Gulf, Colorado and…
-
The Grocery-Store Barbecue That Won the State
· 11.3 mi
Pull off Highway 6 at 17119 and you can eat at what a barbecue magazine literally crowned the best chain in Texas. True Texas BBQ is run by the grocery giant H-E-B, and the idea of a supermarket smoking brisket might…
-
Arcadia Christian Church
· 11.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the Arcadia Christian Church, a landmark that's been serving this community for over a century. Organized in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1894</say-as>, it's the oldest…
-
Dairy Industry in the Santa Fe Area
· 11.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through the Santa Fe area, a place that used to be the heart of Texas dairy country. Back in the late 1800s and early 1900s, this area was booming with farms, especially citrus, figs, and truck farming.…
-
Rosharon, TX
· 11.6 mi
Rosharon's history is deeply intertwined with the railroad. The town was initially known as Masterson's Station, named after a nearby plantation owned by Thomas G. Masterson. It was later dubbed 'Buttermilk Station' due…
-
Three Railroad Towns That Became One
· 11.9 mi
The city you're driving through is younger than it looks. For a century this was three separate flag-stops strung along the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway, which laid track through western Galveston County in the…
-
Santa Fe, TX
· 11.9 mi
In the late 19th century, the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway was built through Galveston County, spurring the formation of three small towns along its path: Alta Loma, Arcadia, and Algoa. The Santa Fe Independent…
-
When the Land Ran on Strawberries and Cream
· 11.9 mi
Before the subdivisions, this prairie was a patchwork of small farms feeding Galveston and Houston. When the Alta Loma Investment and Improvement Company platted its townsite in 1893, it pitched the place as orchard…
-
A 50-Foot Reclining Buddha in the Pines
· 11.9 mi
Of all the things you might expect on a back road in rural Galveston County, a fifty-foot Buddha lying on its side among the pine trees is probably not one of them. The Linh Son Buddhist Temple, a Vietnamese temple…
-
The Marker Where Alta Loma Tells Its Own Story
· 11.9 mi
If you want the short version of how this city came to be, pull over at the Alta Loma historical marker near Main and 16th Street. The Texas Historical Commission placed it in 1994, and in a few hundred words of bronze…
-
Santa Fe, TX
· 11.9 mi
Santa Fe's location was influenced by the Santa Fe Railroad, which runs through the town alongside State Highway 6. The railroad, now part of BNSF Railway, played a significant role in the formation of the city, as…
-
Santa Fe Consolidated High School
· 11.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Santa Fe, Galveston County, where three towns – Arcadia, Alta Loma, and Algoa – decided to join forces back in 1927. They formed the Santa Fe Consolidated school district, named after the railroad…
-
Alta Loma Cemetery
· 12.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past what was once the town of Alta Loma, a place that means 'High Land' in Spanish. Established in 1893 by a Colorado investment company, it was meant to be a thriving community. William Skirvin, buried…
-
Home of the Pioneers and an Ox Named Blaze
· 12.2 mi
On Davenport Parkway in the Meridiana area stands a high school that didn't exist a few years ago, proof of just how fast Iowa Colony grew. Iowa Colony High School opened its doors on August 17, 2022, as Alvin ISD's…
-
The Hon. Nathan H. Haller
· 12.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Angleton area, where Nathan H. Haller lived out his later years. Born into slavery in South Carolina in 1840, Haller became a key political figure in Texas after emancipation. He served in the…
-
The Cafe That Kept the Alta Loma Name
· 12.3 mi
When three towns folded into one city in 1978, the old names mostly faded onto historical markers, but the original name of this community is still painted on a working diner. The Alta Loma Cafe sits along Highway 6 at…
-
Angleton, TX
· 12.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Angleton, a town that holds a dark distinction. On August 31st, 1923, right here, what is believed to be the last legal hanging in Texas took place. Angleton was named for the wife of a railway…
-
Kiber, Faustino
· 12.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Angleton, a town that owes its very existence to a Swiss immigrant named Faustino Kiber. He arrived in Texas in 1874, eventually settling in Brenham and later Houston. But Kiber's real vision took…
-
Marshall, Abraham Barrington
· 12.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Angleton, Texas, and right here is a place that carries the name of a man who built his community from the ground up. Abraham "Abe" Barrington Marshall was born in Brazoria County in 1872. He…
-
Santa Fe County
· 12.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what used to be Santa Fe County, Texas. Established in March of <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1848</say-as>, this county covered a massive chunk of territory that Texas claimed in New…
-
Galveston businessmen build their own railroad
· 12.6 mi
The very existence of Santa Fe is a story of 19th-century engineering and economics. After the Civil War, Galveston was Texas’s main port, but its trade was controlled by out-of-state railroad monopolies. A group of…
-
Three Towns Become One
· 12.6 mi
You might think you’re driving through one continuous town, but for a hundred years, this was two. Or three. When the Santa Fe railroad came through in 1877, the neighboring communities of Alta Loma and Arcadia sprang…
-
The Sweet History of the Fig Capital
· 12.6 mi
It's hard to imagine now, but the land you're driving through was once sold to the whole country as a fruit belt. When the Alta Loma Investment and Improvement Company platted this townsite in 1893, it mailed brochures…
-
Sweeny Home
· 12.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Sweeny Home in Angleton. This Victorian house, built in 1896, has a unique connection to the county's history. Its owner, Rees P. Sweeny, was the Brazoria County tax collector during a major…
-
The Courthouse That Became a Museum
· 12.7 mi
At 100 East Cedar Street stands the old red-brick building that ran Brazoria County for half a century. Accepted as finished in 1897, it was designed by Houston architect Eugene T. Heiner, who built courthouses all over…
-
Named for a Railroad Boss Who Never Set Foot Here
· 12.7 mi
The town you're rolling through almost had a different name. When the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe ran its line through here in the late 1800s, the little railside settlement was first called Pomona. The trouble was that…
-
The High School That Built Quarterbacks
· 12.7 mi
For a town this small, Manvel High School has thrown a staggering amount of talent onto the national stage, and the football story is almost hard to believe. Dual-threat quarterback D'Eriq King starred here, passing for…
-
The Town That Helped Build the Pacemaker
· 12.7 mi
This unassuming county seat once sat at the center of America's heart-implant industry. In 1973 a former Medtronic salesman named Albert Beutel founded Intermedics down the road in Freeport, and the company's reach soon…
-
Named for a Railroad Man's Wife
· 12.7 mi
The town you're rolling into owes both its name and its existence to a railroad. In 1890, Lewis R. Bryan Sr. and Faustino Kiber laid out a townsite near the geographic center of Brazoria County, betting that steel rails…
-
The Records That Moved by Lantern Light
· 12.7 mi
Becoming a county seat is rarely peaceful, and Angleton's promotion in 1896 was downright bitter. The honor had long belonged to the older town of Brazoria, and the fight over moving it inland to the young railroad town…
-
Angleton's Pro Football Hall of Famer
· 12.7 mi
Angleton can claim a Pro Football Hall of Famer as a native son. Emmitt Thomas was born here on June 3, 1943, and took an unlikely road to the top. He went undrafted out of tiny Bishop College in Dallas, signed with the…
-
The Godfather of Nu Metal Was Born Here
· 12.7 mi
One of the most influential rock producers of the 1990s started life in Angleton. Ross Robinson was born here on February 13, 1967, before his family's path led him to California and a career in heavy music. He cut his…
-
The High School That Sent Stars Up the Road
· 12.7 mi
Angleton High School has quietly produced an outsized share of big-time athletes. Quentin Jammer, a do-everything two-way star here in the 1990s, made the 1997 Texas high-school all-star team alongside future NFL…
-
The Biggest County Fair in Texas
· 12.7 mi
Every October, Angleton more than doubles in spirit when the Brazoria County Fair rolls in, billed as the largest county fair in Texas. It grew out of humble beginnings. In 1938 the Angleton Jaycees took over running…
-
When Strawberries Paid the Bills
· 12.7 mi
Long before highways and rooftops, the soil here grew money in the form of strawberries. From the late 1800s into the early 1900s, the berry was Manvel's chief cash crop, and the work it demanded pulled whole families…
-
The Storm That Flattened the Schoolhouse
· 12.7 mi
Early Manvel took a beating from the sky in just five years. First came snow in 1895, a genuine novelty on this stretch of Gulf Coast prairie. Then a tornado tore through in 1899. The worst arrived in 1900, the same…
-
The Day Oil Turned a Berry Town Around
· 12.7 mi
For three-quarters of a century Manvel was a struggling farm community, knocked back by storms and never quite becoming the boomtown the railroad promoters had imagined. Then, on September 8, 1931, the Texas Company…
-
Building New Ramps in the Air Above Live Traffic
· 12.7 mi
The toll lanes you can take north toward Houston are a quiet feat of highway engineering, and they begin right here in Manvel. The State Highway 288 express lanes start near County Road 58 and run roughly fifteen miles…
-
Angleton, TX
· 12.7 mi
Angleton's story began in 1893, taking its name from Mrs. Angle, who permitted a crucial railroad depot on her land. This initial spark of development gained significant momentum three years later when the community was…
-
The Judge Who Never Adjourned
· 12.7 mi
After dark, the old courthouse on Cedar Street earns a second reputation, the one that doesn't make the museum brochures. Local ghost lore holds that the 1897 building, now the Brazoria County Historical Museum, is…
-
Brazoria County Courthouse
· 12.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Angleton's first permanent courthouse, built way back in 1897. That was just a year after Angleton was chosen as the county seat for Brazoria County. Interestingly, the plans for this…
-
Angleton Independent School District
· 12.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Angleton, where education has always been a priority. Back in 1892, two residents donated land for the very first school. Citizens pitched in two hundred dollars to build a simple frame structure,…
-
First Baptist Church of Angleton
· 12.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Angleton, and right here is the site of the First Baptist Church. It got its start way back in 1896, with Joseph Matthew Kailin leading the congregation. But just four years later, a massive…
-
Freeman W. Douglass
· 12.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site where Freeman W. Douglass once stood guard. He was born in Georgia way back on December 21, 1822. During the Texas Revolution, on April 21, 1836, Douglass was part of the group tasked with…
-
The Midnight Ride for the Courthouse
· 12.8 mi
The impressive Art Deco courthouse in the center of Angleton is more than just a government building; it’s a monument to a heist. In 1896, the brand-new railroad town of Angleton challenged the historic town of Brazoria…
-
When the Brazos River Broke Free
· 12.8 mi
In August 2017, Hurricane Harvey stalled over Southeast Texas, dumping staggering amounts of rain. For Angleton and the rest of Brazoria County, the greatest threat wasn't the wind, but the water. The Brazos River,…
-
The Science of a Super-Flood
· 12.8 mi
When Hurricane Harvey hit, the Brazos River turned into a massive physics problem. The storm dropped over thirty inches of rain into its watershed, and all that water had to go somewhere. Hydrologists measure river flow…
-
The Maverick Factory
· 12.8 mi
If you pass by Manvel High School, you're looking at the town's most famous institution. Not for academics. For football. The Manvel Mavericks are a Texas high school power, and the remarkable part is how fast it…
-
The Highway That Built a City
· 12.8 mi
The highway you may be driving on, State Highway 288, is the single most important piece of engineering in Manvel's modern story. For years, it was a congested freeway that made commuting to Houston a daily struggle.…
-
The End of the Line
· 12.8 mi
For half a century the pulse of Singleton was the rhythm of a train. The town did not exist until the International and Great Northern laid its line through east central Grimes County around 1900 and families moved out…
-
Surveyed with transits and chains
· 12.8 mi
The existence of Singleton is a story of 19th-century engineering. When the International & Great Northern Railroad planned its route, surveyors with transits and chains walked this land, calculating the most efficient…
-
A 60-Foot Sundial That Tells You the Date
· 12.8 mi
The tallest thing in Iowa Colony isn't a water tower or a steeple, it's a 60-foot sundial. The Meridian Tower stands at the heart of the Meridiana master-planned community, and it's a fully functional solar instrument,…
-
The Waters of Harvey
· 12.8 mi
As you travel through Manvel, you'll cross creeks and bayous, most notably Chocolate Bayou. In August 2017, during Hurricane Harvey, these quiet waterways became raging rivers. Manvel’s location on the flat, low-lying…
-
Angelton, TX
· 12.8 mi
Angleton, Texas, has a rich history that dates back to its founding in 1890. The city was named after the wife of the general manager of the Velasco Terminal Railway. A rivalry between Angleton and nearby Brazoria for…
-
Manvel, TX
· 12.8 mi
Manvel's transportation infrastructure is centered around Texas State Highway 6 and Texas State Highway 288. Highway 6 passes through the community, offering a direct route to Alvin, Galveston, and Sugar Land.…
-
When Oil Hit Hastings
· 12.8 mi
Southeast of Manvel lies the ghost of an old boom. Two days before Christmas in 1934, Stanolind Oil and Gas — the Standard Oil outfit that would one day be Amoco — brought in a well called the Number One J. W. Surface,…
-
Original Site of First Baptist Church of Alta Lome
· 12.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the original site of the First Baptist Church of Alta Loma. Organized in a hotel back in 1895, this church boasts a long history as the oldest church in Alta Loma and the second oldest Baptist church…
-
First Presbyterian Church of Angleton
· 12.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Angleton's First Presbyterian Church, a story of faith and community resilience. Organized in 1896 with just fifteen members, this congregation faced hardship. The devastating 1900 storm…
-
Alsbury, Horace Arlington
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what's now Brazoria County, but back in 1824, this was the frontier. Horace Alsbury, one of Stephen F. Austin's Old Three Hundred, arrived here with his brothers, claiming land that still exists…
-
Bailey, James Briton
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what was once Bailey's Prairie, near the Brazos River. Right here lived James Britton Bailey, one of Stephen F. Austin's original colonists. Bailey had a reputation that preceded him, possibly…
-
Brigham, Asa
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what was once the heart of early Texas, right here in Brazoria County. Asa Brigham, a name you might not know, but he was a foundational figure. He arrived in Texas in 1830, and by 1836, he was a…
-
Brown, Reuben Robinson
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Texas, maybe near the coast, and you're passing through a story of survival from the Texas Revolution. Reuben Robinson Brown arrived in Texas in November 1835, just in time to join the Matamoros…
-
Dodson, Sarah Randolph Bradley
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what was once Harrisburg, a place that saw a pivotal moment in Texas history. Back in 1835, Sarah Dodson, a resident here, was asked to make a flag for a volunteer company preparing to resist the…
-
Ellersly Plantation
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Brazoria County, not far from the Gulf Coast, and you're passing through the echoes of Ellersly Plantation. Established in 1824 by John Greenville McNeel, this was more than just a farm; it was a…
-
Johnston, Albert Sidney
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through the heart of Texas, a land shaped by conflict and courage. Right here, in what is now Brazoria County, Albert Sidney Johnston made his home. Born in Kentucky, Johnston came to Texas in 1836,…
-
Logan, Greenbury
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what is now Brazoria County, a place that was once home to Greenbury Logan. Born into slavery in Kentucky around 1798, Logan was freed and came to Texas in 1831. He was a free Black man who became…
-
Mitchell, Asa
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what was once the heart of early Texas settlement, near the mouth of the Brazos River. Right here, Asa Mitchell, one of Stephen F. Austin's 'Old Three Hundred,' arrived in 1822. He wasn't just a…
-
Phelps, James Aeneas E.
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Brazoria County, and right here is the site of Orozimbo Plantation, home to Dr. James Aeneas E. Phelps. Phelps was one of Stephen F. Austin's original colonists, arriving in Texas in 1822. He…
-
Smith, Henry
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what was once the heart of early Texas politics, right here in what is now Brazoria County. And you're passing through the territory of Henry Smith, a man who became known as the first American…
-
San Luis, TX
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
San Luis was on what is now Farm Road 257 across San Luis Pass from the west end of Galveston Island and twelve miles east of Surfside in southeastern Brazoria County. The area, San Luis Island, was still a true island…
-
Velasco, TX
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
Old Velasco, (encompassed by present-day Surfside Beach) on the east side of the Brazos River sixteen miles south of Angleton and near the Gulf of Mexico in southeastern Brazoria County, was founded in 1831. Ten years…
-
Acadia
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're cruising along the Texas coast, and right here, ten miles northeast of the Brazos River mouth, lies the watery grave of a Civil War blockade runner. The Acadia, built extra large and fast in 1864 for this…
-
Adriance, John
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Brazoria County, near the town of Columbia, where John Adriance made his mark. Arriving in Texas in 1835, he first helped protect fleeing Texans during the Runaway Scrape and even guarded Santa…
-
Bell, Thomas B.
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Brazoria County, right where Thomas B. Bell staked his claim back in 1824. He was a colonist, a farmer, a stockman, and a soldier in the Texas Revolution. Bell fought in the 1832 Battle of Velasco…
-
Brazoria County
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Brazoria County, right where Texas history really got its start. Back in 1821, Stephen F. Austin chose this very area for his ambitious colonization project. By 1824, eighty-nine of his original…
-
Brown, Henry Stevenson
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what is now Brazoria County, perhaps near Columbia, where Henry Stevenson Brown met his end in 1834. But before that, he was a key player in early Texas conflicts. Arriving in 1824, he quickly got…
-
Bryan, Guy Morrison
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Brazoria County, and right here is where a young courier rode to deliver one of the most famous letters in Texas history. It was March of 1836, and the Alamo had fallen. Sixteen-year-old Guy…
-
Eagle Island Plantation
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Brazoria County, not far from the Gulf. Right here, back in 1826, Sarah Ann Groce and her husband William Harris Wharton established Eagle Island Plantation. They built it up to cover 16,000 acres…
-
Edwards, Monroe
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what was once Brazoria County, near Chenango, where Monroe Edwards built his fortune on a dark chapter of Texas history: slave smuggling. Born in Kentucky around 1808, Edwards arrived in Texas in…
-
Franklin, Benjamin Cromwell
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what was once the Republic of Texas, a time of revolution and nation-building. Right here, Benjamin Cromwell Franklin was making history. Arriving in Velasco in 1835, he quickly joined the fight…
-
Green, Thomas Jefferson
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what was once Velasco, a town that played a key role in the Texas Revolution. Right here, in 1836, Thomas Jefferson Green, a veteran of North Carolina and Florida politics, arrived with a Texas…
-
Hill, William Green
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Brazoria County, the heart of early Texas. Right here, William Green Hill, known as Colonel Hill, was more than just a soldier in the Texas Revolution. He was the very first signer of the Goliad…
-
Houston Tap and Brazoria Railway
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what was once the heart of Texas's sugar country, and right here is where the Houston Tap and Brazoria Railway laid its tracks. Chartered in 1856, this line, nicknamed the 'Sugar Road,' was built…
-
Jones, Oliver
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what was once the wild frontier of Texas, and right here, you're passing through land once claimed by Oliver Jones. Born in New York City, Jones fought in the War of 1812. Disillusioned with the…
-
McNeel, John Shelby
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Brazoria County, and right here is the land once owned by John Shelby McNeel. He was one of Stephen F. Austin's original colonists, arriving in Texas back in 1822. By 1830, his plantation, China…
-
McNeel, Pleasant D.
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Brazoria County, and right here is the land where Pleasant D. McNeel made his mark. He arrived in Texas around 1822, becoming one of Stephen F. Austin's original colonists. By 1824, he'd secured a…
-
McNeel, Sterling
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Brazoria County, the heart of Texas's early sugar country. Right here, Sterling McNeel arrived with Stephen F. Austin's first colonists back in 1822. He wasn't just a planter; McNeel was an Indian…
-
Retrieve Plantation
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Brazoria County, near what was once Retrieve Plantation. Opened in 1839 by Abner Jackson, this place was a sugar-producing powerhouse, making Jackson and his partner, former South Carolina…
-
Salmon, Richard
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what was once Velasco, Texas, a place that saw the very beginning of organized Episcopal ministry in the state. <break time="400ms"/> Richard Salmon, a priest from New York, brought fifteen…
-
Sharp, John
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Brazoria County, not far from where John Sharp arrived in Texas back in 1835. He was a soldier and a civil servant, and he jumped right into the fight for Texas independence. Sharp signed…
-
Shipman, Daniel
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what used to be the wild frontier of Texas, and right here, Daniel Shipman was making his mark. Born in North Carolina in 1801, he arrived in North Texas in 1822, eventually joining Stephen F.…
-
Sulfur Industry
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through the heart of Texas's industrial might, a place where the ground beneath your feet holds a hidden treasure: sulfur. While deposits were known for decades, it was a revolutionary invention – the…
-
Sweeny, Thomas Jefferson
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Brazoria County, the heart of Texas's early Republic struggles. Right here, in 1835, Thomas Jefferson Sweeny, a recent arrival from Tennessee, signed a petition calling for a convention to ease…
-
Thompson, Jesse
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what was once Mexican Texas, perhaps near the Brazos River. Right here, Jesse Thompson, one of Stephen F. Austin's original colonists, was trying to make a life for himself. He arrived in Texas…
-
Wharton, John Austin
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what was once Brazoria County, the heart of a tragic story from the Civil War. John Austin Wharton, a name you might recognize from Terry's Texas Rangers, rose through the ranks to become a major…
-
Williams, Charles F. Augustus
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what was once the Municipality of Brazoria, right where the town of Columbia became its capital in 1834. Right here, Charles F. Augustus Williams served as sheriff. He was a man who knew military…
-
Anchor, TX
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
Anchor is at the intersection of Farm roads 521 and 44 four miles northwest of Angleton in central Brazoria County. A two-story residence that was once the Whistler Hotel is all that remained in the 1980s to mark a once…
-
Cast Iron and Live Music Downtown
· 12.9 mi
If you want a meal in old downtown Angleton rather than out on the highway strip, The Dirty South at 116 North Velasco Street is the move. It occupies one of the historic brick storefronts on the original main drag, the…
-
Angier, Samuel Tubbs
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Brazoria County, near the Chocolate Bayou. Right here, in 1824, Dr. Samuel Tubbs Angier arrived as one of Stephen F. Austin's Old Three Hundred colonists. He was a physician who received land…
-
Bingham, Francis
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what was once the edge of the Texas frontier, a land of opportunity and hardship. Francis Bingham arrived here in 1822, one of Stephen F. Austin's Old Three Hundred settlers. He established a…
-
Bolivar, TX (Brazoria County)
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Brazoria County, approaching the site of a town called Bolivar. It was founded in 1830 by Henry Austin, a cousin of Stephen F. Austin. He established a cotton plantation and one of the county's…
-
Cedar Lake Creek
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Brazoria County, and right here, along Cedar Lake Creek, was a significant Confederate defense line during the Civil War. In late 1862, Camp Nellie was established here, hosting the Twenty-fifth…
-
Collins, Richard Montgomery
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Brazoria County, Texas, a place that saw a surprising post-Civil War exodus. Richard Montgomery Collins, a wealthy planter and legislator, wasn't content to stay after the war. In fact, he and…
-
Fourth Texas Cavalry, Arizona Brigade
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what was once Confederate Texas, and right here, in Brazoria County, a unique military unit was stationed: the Fourth Texas Cavalry, Arizona Brigade. Organized in <say-as interpret-as="date"…
-
Galveston and Brazos Navigation Company
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Brazoria County, and right here, the Galveston and Brazos Navigation Company tried to build a shortcut to the sea. Chartered in 1850, their big idea was a canal connecting Galveston Bay to the…
-
Gill, John Porter
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what was once the heart of early Texas settlement, and right here, John Porter Gill answered the call to arms. Born in Alabama, he arrived in Texas in 1831 and quickly became involved in the…
-
Gray, Thomas
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what is now Brazoria County, and right here, back in the 1820s, lived Thomas Gray. He was one of Stephen F. Austin's original 'Old Three Hundred' settlers, arriving as early as 1823. Gray was a…
-
Hall, William Sims
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
Right here, in what is now Brazoria County, you're passing through a region that saw some early Texas grit. William Sims Hall, known as Sims Hall, was a militia captain and a contractor for Stephen F. Austin's army…
-
Haller, Nathan H.
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what is now Brazoria County, a place where history was made by Nathan H. Haller. Born into slavery in South Carolina, Haller eventually made his way to Texas. After emancipation, he became a…
-
Holt, Benjamin
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Brazoria County, and right here is where Benjamin Holt settled in the early 1850s, returning to Texas after living in Louisiana. Holt was a pioneer who first arrived in Mexican Texas back in 1825,…
-
Hunt, William Hudson
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what was once the western edge of Wise County, Texas, a place William Hudson Hunt called Cactus Hill. Hunt arrived in Texas in 1836, a surveyor who mapped vast areas of the Republic, including…
-
McCormick, Andrew Phelps
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what was once Brazoria County, the birthplace of Andrew P. McCormick. Born in 1832, McCormick was a man who navigated Texas's turbulent post-Civil War years. He started as a wealthy planter but…
-
Runnels, Henry George [Hal]
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what used to be Brazoria County, the home of Henry "Hal" George Runnels. Runnels was a Confederate officer who organized the San Jacinto Guards at the start of the Civil War. He was elected…
-
Sayre, Charles D.
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Brazoria County, not far from where Charles D. Sayre built his Willow Glen Plantation. Sayre arrived in Texas in 1831, a New Yorker who became a prominent sugar planter. By 1852, he was one of the…
-
Thirty-Fifth Texas Cavalry [Brown’s]
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what was once Columbia, Texas, a town that gave its name to a company of soldiers during the Civil War. These were the 'Columbia Blues,' part of the Thirty-fifth Texas Cavalry, also known as…
-
Underwood, Ammon
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Brazoria County, near the town of Columbia, where Ammon Underwood spent most of his life. He arrived in Texas from Massachusetts back in 1834, and after exploring and working various jobs, he…
-
Waverly Plantation
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Brazoria County, not far from where the mighty Brazos River flows. Right here, back in the mid-1800s, stood Waverly Plantation. Purchased in 1842 by Scottish immigrant William Kennedy, this…
-
Chenango, TX
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
Chenango, seven miles north of Angleton on State Highway 521 and the International-Great Northern Railroad in northeast Brazoria County, was named for a town in New York State. It grew up around nearby Chenango…
-
Gulf Prairie, TX
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
Gulf (Gulph) Prairie grew up around several plantations off what is now State Highway 36 between Jones Creek and the San Bernard River, twelve miles south of Angleton in southeastern Brazoria County. On December 31,…
-
Old Ocean, TX
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
Old Ocean is on State highways 35 and 524 five miles northwest of Sweeny in southwestern Brazoria County. The site was located on or near the land grant patented by Joseph H. Polley and Samuel Chance on July 27, 1824,…
-
Otey, TX
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
Otey is on Oyster Creek and the westernmost extension of Farm Road 655 in northwestern Brazoria County. Otey is the site of Palo Alto, an antebellum cotton plantation that was owned by Robert and David G. Mills . The…
-
Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Brazoria County, heading towards the coast. Right here is the Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge, a critical stopover for birds on the Central Flyway. Established in 1966, this refuge now spans…
-
Burnley, Albert Triplett
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Texas, maybe near Brazoria County, and you're passing through a bit of Republic of Texas history. Albert Triplett Burnley was tasked by Sam Houston himself to secure a massive loan for the new…
-
Forbes, Robert Mitchell
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through the heart of Texas history, and right here, in what was once Columbia, you're passing through the footsteps of Robert Mitchell Forbes. He arrived in Texas in February of <say-as…
-
Houston and Brazos Valley Railway
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what used to be a vital industrial corridor. The Houston and Brazos Valley Railway was chartered in 1907, taking over a line built in the early 1890s. Its main purpose? To connect the bustling…
-
Marsh, Shubael
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what was once Spanish Texas, a land of opportunity for early settlers. Right here, in what is now Brazoria County, Shubael Marsh arrived in 1822, one of Stephen F. Austin's original colonists. He…
-
Masterson, Thomas G.
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Brazoria County, perhaps near Rosharon, and you're passing through land once owned by Thomas G. Masterson. He arrived in Texas back in 1832, a lawyer from Tennessee. By the time he settled near…
-
Robinson, Tod
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving near Galveston Island, and right here, Tod Robinson arrived in Texas in 1839. He settled at San Luis Pass, and before long, he was helping to edit the San Luis Advocate newspaper. He didn't stay out of…
-
Smith, Morgan L.
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what was once the heart of a sugar empire in Brazoria County. Right here, in Columbia, Morgan L. Smith arrived after the financial panic of 1837, already a successful businessman from New York. He…
-
Velasco Terminal Railway
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving near the Texas coast, likely in Brazoria County, where a grand plan once unfolded. In 1891, the Velasco Terminal Railway was chartered, part of a massive project to create a deep-water port at Velasco.…
-
China Grove, TX (Brazoria County)
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
China Grove is twelve miles north of Angleton, two miles south of Rosharon, and west of State Highway 288 in northwest Brazoria County. It was named for the chinaberry trees planted for shade by Warren D. C. Hall ,…
-
Hasima, TX
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
Hasima was on Linnville Bayou, which in that part of its course forms the border between Brazoria and Matagorda counties, and four miles west of Sweeny in southwestern Brazoria County. For a time Hasima was a stop on…
-
Stratton Ridge, TX
· 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
Stratton Ridge, also known as Ranch Prairie and Phair (but not to be confused with a community known as Stratton near Hinkle's Ferry), is a dispersed settlement thirteen miles east of Brazoria on the Missouri Pacific…
-
From a Santa Fe Dairy Farm to Lookin' for Love
· 13.0 mi
The country star who sang Lookin' for Love grew up milking cows here. John Lee Ham, who took the stage as Johnny Lee, was born in 1946 in Texas City and raised on a dairy farm in Alta Loma, the community that's now part…
-
The Prairie Wells That Watered an Island
· 13.0 mi
Galveston, a sand barrier island, had no drinkable groundwater; for decades residents drank rainwater caught in cisterns, and local wells came up salty. In 1888 the city contracted drillers to sink seven wells on the…
-
The 1900 Storm Hit the Mainland Too
· 13.0 mi
The 1900 Galveston hurricane is remembered as an island catastrophe, the deadliest natural disaster in U.S. history, but the wind and water didn't stop at the bay. On September 8, 1900, the storm tore across the…
-
Alta Loma
· 13.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Santa Fe, but this area used to be called Alta Loma – Spanish for high land. Back in 1893, a company platted this townsite right along a railroad line, and they didn't just build houses. They…
-
Texas HS Baseball Leaders 2026: Manvel (Manvel)
· 13.3 mi
Manvel (Manvel, TX) placed on the 6A Texas high school baseball stat leaderboards for the 2026 season: Christian Hamilton (5 HR).
-
Snow, Sheriff Joe H.
· 13.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the area where Sheriff Joe H. Snow lived and served. Born in West Columbia in 1872, Snow began his public service as a justice of the peace for over a decade. He then moved to law enforcement,…
-
Evergreen Cemetery
· 13.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past where Henry Runge laid out the town of Arcadia back in 1890, near Hall's Station. Soon after, Evergreen Cemetery was established to serve this growing community. The first known burial was Susan…
-
Sandy Point Cemetery
· 13.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Sandy Point Cemetery, a resting place for some of Texas's earliest history. This ground was once part of vast sugar and cotton plantations, but it's the people buried here that tell the real story.…
-
Hitchcock Depot
· 13.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're cruising past the site of the old Hitchcock Depot. Legend has it, back in 1875, the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railroad needed land. They struck a deal with Emily Hitchcock: a vital right-of-way through her…
-
Recognized as historic in 2003
· 13.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Sandy Point. This cemetery was established around 1850, making it a historic Texas cemetery, recognized as such in 2003.
-
Fifty Years Stuck at Twenty-Seven People
· 13.8 mi
For most of its life this was one of the smallest dots on the Texas map. After Iowa Colony was founded in 1908, its population crept up to about 27 people and then simply stopped, holding at that handful of residents…
-
The Texas Town Named by Two Men From Iowa
· 13.8 mi
The town you're passing in northern Brazoria County wears its origin story right in its name. Iowa Colony was founded in 1908 by the Immigration Land Company of Des Moines, Iowa, a land-promotion outfit that sold this…
-
The Town That Helped Texas Outlaw Speed Traps
· 13.8 mi
Before the subdivisions arrived, tiny Iowa Colony made its name a different way: as one of the most notorious speed traps on State Highway 288. In the early 1990s the little town, then home to only a few hundred people,…
-
The Subdivision That Built Its Own Water Park
· 13.8 mi
Most master-planned communities brag about a pool. Iowa Colony's Meridiana built an actual water park. Adventure Cove sits inside the development as a roughly two-acre aquatic complex, anchored by a 9,300-square-foot…
-
Sprague, Carl Tyler [Doc]
· 14.1 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving past Manvel, Texas, right where Carl "Doc" Sprague was born. <break time="400ms"/> Back in 1925, Sprague, who worked as an athletic trainer at Texas A&M, wrote to Victor Records suggesting they record his…
-
Manvel, TX
· 14.1 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Manvel, Texas, a town that started life as Pomona. But there was already a Pomona out west, so this one needed a new name. It was renamed Manvel, after a big shot president of the Atchison, Topeka…
-
A 76-Foot Father of Texas
· 14.3 mi
Drive Highway 288 near Angleton and you can't miss him: a towering white figure of Stephen F. Austin, the empresario who brought the first Anglo colonists to this very county in the 1820s, now standing guard over the…
-
Sandy Point, TX
· 14.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what's left of Sandy Point, a farming community that once thrived near the Darrington State Prison Farm. Established as a plantation in the antebellum era, its post office opened in 1854 and…
-
Blimps Over the Gulf: Hitchcock's Giant Hangar and the U-Boat War
· 14.4 mi
In 1942-43, 24 German U-boats slipped into the Gulf of Mexico and sank 56 merchant ships, damaging 14 more, with tankers burning within sight of the coast; on June 1, 1942 Galveston ordered dimouts so ships offshore…
-
U. S. Naval Air Station (Blimp Base)
· 14.8 mi · Historical Marker
Hey road trippers! You're cruising past the site of a unique World War II operation. Just south of here, the U.S. Navy built a blimp base to patrol our coastlines for German submarines. These giant airships, with their…
-
Camp Wallace
· 14.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Camp Wallace, a massive World War II training facility. Established in 1940, this place consumed over 3,300 acres. Imagine: 17 miles of new roads, 29 miles of electrical lines, and a spur…
-
The Couple Who Came by Oxcart and Stayed
· 15.1 mi
Decades before any railroad or oil well, this was open coastal prairie laced with timber along the creeks, and it was the Booth family who put down the first roots. William Rufus Booth and his wife, Elizabeth Tursey…