Galveston, An Old Storm & an Orphanage

 Location: Galveston Island State Park; Galveston, Texas

Today is day 4 of 4 here at Galveston State Park. I've been to Galveston so many times that I didn't do much exploring. I did go to a museum that struck my fancy about a subject I had heard about. Wasn't that a mysterious sentence. By the way, I thought "struck my fancy" was a southern phrase but it turns out to be an old English one from old England.

Galveston Island State Park was rebuilt a couple of years ago and is nothing like it was when I stayed here right after buying Liberty.

All paved campsites with water and electric. They also have a boondocking area where I was planning to stay until the temperatures warmed up. 

This is one of three streets of Water/Electric sites. The end of the road has walking access to the beach. That's Liberty2 on the left, three RV's down.

This is from the walkway to the beach. The beach and water is about 50 yards behind me.

They also have a tent camping area as well as tent/yurt rentals.

The walkway from the campground to the beach.

A couple of the campers feeding the gulls. Once she started, gulls came to here from everywhere.

Although a little uncomfortable, this was a good "thinking" bench while watching the waves come in.

The most deadly natural disaster occurred right here in Galveston. I was aware of it happening but not many of the details. The disaster is known as the Great Galveston Storm or the Hurricane of 1900. It destroyed almost everything on the island with the storm surge sweeping many things and people out to sea. It killed between 6,000 and 12,000 people. To put those numbers into modern perspective, about 3,000 people died on 9/11, about 1,400 people died during Hurricane Katrina. I can't remember if I learned about the storm from school while growing up or if I learned about it later in life. It seems it should have at least been mentioned in school. If anyone remembers for sure, let me know. 

The story I wanted more information about was concerning the orphanage during the storm. I read about the local museum having a nice display with information about the storm so I went to see. The little museum is located in the Galveston County Courthouse building. The Courthouse is easy to find, but there are no signs to indicate where the museum is until you enter the building. I told the guy at the entrance to the museum that they needed better signage, he said the county would not let them put any signs up outside. Strange, but true.

I'll try to be as brief as possible. The Yellow Fever swept across Texas in the late 1800's killing thousands. It began in the large port city of Indianola, very near Magnolia Beach where I stayed for a couple days. From there it headed north toward Galveston and Central Texas. The fever killed many parents thereby creating orphans. In Galveston, the local hospital was staffed by Catholic Nuns which ran the orphanage as part of the hospital. It was decided to create a stand alone orphanage away from the hospital to protect the children from being exposed to the fever. So they bought some land a few miles south of the hospital where they used some of the pre-existing buildings along with some newly built ones, to house the orphans. Currently, Walmart sits on that land. 

There were 93 orphans of varying ages when the storm hit. When the waves started destroying the buildings, the Nuns tied the children to each other and then to themselves using clotheslines. For days after the storm, dead children were being found still tied with the clothesline to each other and a Nun. They had become entangled around trees, stumps, fences and storm debris. There were 10 nuns and 90 children that died. It is unimaginable the horror and fear those children went through during that storm. Why wouldn't the most deadly disaster be taught in school? It's just plumb sad.

By the way, the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate are stationed all over the world. And on September the 8th, no matter where they are, they all sing an old French hymn named "Queen of the Waves" in remembrance of those who died during the Great Storm. One year the singing will probably end, but I hope it doesn't. 

I won't post any pictures about the storm because it is too depressing. Just know that many lost their lives on that day and this story of the orphans is just one of many.

I reread my last post about being concerned about crossing the San Luis Bridge. The bridge was no problem, with plenty of room but it would be nice if they would paint some edge lines. All roads with eleven foot lanes or wider are suppose to have edge lines. When looking down on a satellite view of the bridge and not seeing any edge lines made me worry they were nine or ten foot lanes. The toll booth was very tight with about 6 inches to spare on each side of Liberty2's tires. Trying to get the two dollars for the toll in the the cash tray during strong winds was also fun. Everything was hazy that day and pictures were not clear. I'll post them anyhow. Come to think of it, it has been hazy with overcast skies for about a week or so. There is a strong cold front due to blow through here this evening and tonight so that may clear things up.

The toll booth on the San Luis Bridge. Tight fit, but doable. Going this way avoids Houston totally.

Tomorrow is moving day and I'll be going to my last stop before getting back to my homebase town of Mansfield. It will be another COE campground. I usually use the last campground as a trip decompression place. I hope it is a good one. I'll probably be dodging storms since they are in the forecast for the next 4 days. 

Ya'll take care of each other. Maybe I'll Cya down the road.