The Bolivar Lighthouse is an imposing 117-foot tall structure you will see long before the ferry docks. Built in 1872 and manned until 1937 this lighthouse provided a long and important service to the sailors of a bygone era. People don't normally associate Texas with lighthouses but the Point Bolivar lighthouse is one of 8 in Texas that remain as silent monuments to a time when navigation was done the old-fashioned way with sextants and compasses — not with computers, satellites and handheld GPS devices.
On your right just beyond the Lighthouse is Fort Travis Seashore Park. Originally called Fort Green this was a confederate fortress during the Civil War. The confederates built the fortress by dismantling the original Bolivar lighthouse and using the material to build Fort Green. Renamed Fort Travis, the fort was used in both WWI and WWII to help protect the coastline.
Fort Travis Park is a good opportunity to get close to the ocean. This is where the Houston Ship Channel meets the Gulf of Mexico so, depending on the currents; you may find the water is not too enticing for swimming. Further up the peninsula the water and the beaches get much better and this area has rapidly grown in popularity (and value) in the last 10 years. Overall, the Bolivar Peninsula boasts some 32 miles of beaches.
Hwy 87 continues along the Bolivar Peninsula for another 21 miles. Seafood is bountiful on the coast and there are many little restaurants in this area that offer outstanding values and delicious food. Somewhere around 10 miles from the ferry you will be at Rollover Yacht Basin and the "cut" that allows bay waters to join the ocean. Businesses in this area have firm parking lots where your bike will be stable while you enjoy food and refreshment. Take a short walk along the beach and you might have good luck looking for shells. Several times in this area we have collected some very interesting ones.
Rollover is the narrowest point along the peninsula — only a few hundred feet wide. In the days of "rum running" the smugglers would bring the barrels to this area and then roll them across the narrow strip of land to boats waiting on the bayside to receive the contraband. Thus the name "rollover" because the barrels would roll over the land.
There was a time some 25 years ago when you could follow 87 all the way to Sabine Pass and into Louisiana. A storm in the early 80's washed out huge sections of the road and the Texas Department of Transportation, after spending years battling Mother Nature, finally gave up and decided to not reopen the road. A good 4-wheel drive will still allow you to visit the remote beaches in this area to relax, sun, camp, swim or fish.
Pelican Island and Seawolf Park
Returning to the Island (via the Bolivar Ferry) take Ferry Road up to Harborside then west on Harborside several miles to the Pelican Island Causeway. Pelican Island is home to Seawolf Park. Here you can fish, picnic or tour a US Navy ship and a submarine. Most intriguing is the fact that groups can arrange to sleep onboard the ship for a very modest fee. The cramped accommodations will give you new appreciation for what our fighting men endured during war. Information about staying on board the USS Stewart is available by calling 409-797-5114.
The Cavalla is berthed in Seawolf Park, Galveston, Texas as a memorial to the lost submarine USS Seawolf. The Cavalla was a Gato class fleet sub, designed and built in the summer of 1943 by the Electric Boat Company and launched on November 14, 1943. She was commissioned on February 29, 1944, the first "leap year" boat built. On June 19, 1944, on her maiden patrol, she sank the 30,000 ton aircraft carrier Shokaku (veteran of Pearl Harbor and Battle of Coral Sea). This earned her the Presidential Unit Citation.
Retrace your route back to Harborside and then continue west back to I-45. Go under I-45 and stay on the service road to 61st street. Right on 61st. and right on Heards Lane brings you back to Boudreaux's-On-The-Bayou.
Distance: 70 Miles Highlights: Free Ferry Ride, Point Bolivar Lighthouse, Hunting Seashells, Secluded Beaches, Go on board a submarine, Sleep on a Navy Ship.
On a stormy night in 1900 the lighthouse keeper, Harry Claiborne, bravely continued to maintain the light knowing that lives were dependent on the beacon. Below, in the stairwell, over a hundred people took refuge from the hurricane terrified as the water level rose to more than 30 feet inside the building. Clayton huddled on the stairs, moving frequently as the water level rose. Throughout the night he helped the others, comforting them and doing what he could to help. Many times during the long night he wondered if he would die here in this steamy tower. He thought often about being scared and the stories that his grandfather had told him of fighting at San Jacinto during the Texas War for Independence and of being scared. No one at the time knew just how bad this storm was until the winds abated, the water receded and they were able to go out and view the damage. When they went outside there were bodies everywhere and unimaginable destruction. They had survived the worst single natural disaster that has ever struck the United States with a death toll of over 8,000
Corporal Beauregard leaned against the stone wall of the garrison and scanned the moonlit horizon with his field glasses. They had not seen any of the Yankee ships manning the blockade of Galveston for several days now and boredom was becoming a big part of his day. How did he get stuck being posted to Fort Green when the real action was at Vicksburg and Gettysburg and Shiloh – places that a man could really serve the confederacy and help to win this bloody war instead of staring endlessly at the ocean. Had Beauregard drifted any further into his daydreaming he might have failed to notice the small boats gliding silently towards the beach about a half-mile away. He signaled his Sergeant and pointed towards the infiltrators …