FORT TRAVIS SEASHORE PARK

Park Hours:

     Park gates are locked between dark and 7:30 am.

Park Features:

     Each spring and summer there is a dazzling display of oleander blossoms throughout the park.  The park visitor may enjoy fishing for flounder, trout, and red drum, as well as observing a wide variety of birds.  There is one playground in the park and access to sandy beaches.  Military structures exist throughout the park.

Park Picnic Sites:

     Picnic sites, shelters, picnic tables, and cooking grills are located throughout the park and are available on a first come basis.

Park History:

     Bolivar Peninsula has a long history of military fortifications.  As early as 1814, the peninsula became a center of filibustering strategies and encampments.  Two 1816 Mexican Manuscript maps show "campomentos" there of French General Jean Amable Humbert, and later, American Colonel Henry Perry.  Both had encampments on the gulf side of the peninsula in a grove of trees near the later Fort Travis location.    

     In 1818, Dr. James Long, his wife Jane, and approximately 300 troops, came to Texas to liberate the Spanish province.  He established his base of operations at La Casas at Bolivar in August, 1819.  Dr. Long and his troops continued into Texas leaving Mrs. Long, one of her children, and one servant at the Fort.  During the winter of 1820 & 1821, Mrs. Long gave birth to the first white child born in Texas, a girl.  Mrs. Long remained at the fort until the spring of 1822, when she received notification that Dr. Long had been killed.    

     During the Civil War, Fort Sulakowski on the bay side of Bolivar Point, was established as a confederate fortification.  Federal troops took control of the fort and the peninsula in November of 1862.    

     On April 8, 1898, with federal development of the Port of Galveston, Fort Travis was constructed on the current site at Bolivar Point.  It was named in honor of William B. Travis, hero of the Alamo.  The fort was completed in October 1899.     

     Fort Travis sustained heavy damage from the 1900 storm.  Repairs were well under way by 1903 to include the present seawall around the fort.    

     During WWI, Fort Travis was used as a garrison for troops defending the Galveston Coastal Waters and the vital Port of Galveston.    

     The first public Galveston/Bolivar Ferry was opened in 1930.  The Rudolph Ernst Battery was the docking site on the Bolivar side.  Records indicate that it was no longer used as a ferry landing by the 1950's.    

     In 1942, Fort Travis was enlarged and some 2500 troops were stationed at the fort to provide coastal defenses for the area.  With the ending of WWII, coastal defenses were no longer needed, and Fort Travis was declared surplus property and sold in 1949.    

     The 60 acre park was acquired through a Moody Foundation grant for $200,000 in March 1976.  In December 1975, the Galveston County Beach Park Board received notification of approval of an acquisition/development grant from the National Park Service to develop Fort Travis Seashore Park.

 

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