Historic Galveston Island - June 25th, 2014

Rise by 6:50am to see the rising sun!

Too bad rain clouds obscure the sun today and tomorrow

Sun finally peaks through the clouds long after rising

Enjoy reading on the balcony during the rainstorm

Go into Galveston to see historic homes

Stop first at the 1838 Menard greek revival home

Menard signed the Texas Declaration of Independence

Next, visit the 1839 Samuel May Williams home

Combination Creole-plantation & New England architecture

Williams was the founder of the Texas Navy

Next is the 1859 St. Joseph's Church

The oldest German Catholic Church in Texas and the oldest wooden church building in Galveston

Galveston was home to 3,000 German immigrants in 1859

Although damaged in the 1900 Storm, the church was repaired, enlarged, and redecorated within the year

Next is Jack Johnson Park, created in November 2012

Park creators try to keep this memorial intact

Johnson statue and historical commission plaque inside

Undisputed heavy weight champ of the world 1908-1915

An icon precisely because he refused to stay in his place

Next we head to the Galveston Island Visitors Center

Erin practices her "Arghhh!" with a pirate inside

The carriage house for the 1859 Aston Villa serves as the Visitor Center, walk next door to the ballroom, the only other assessible room of Ashton Villa today

Erin poses on the closed off curving walkway

Big fireplace keeps the ballroom warm in winter

Original fountain between the carriage house & ballroom

Walk around to the front of the Visitor Center

To get a front view the 1859 Ashton Villa

3-story Victorian Italianate home built by Col. Brown

Named after ancestor who fought in US revolutionary war

Home survived the 1900 storm as well as all the rest

Owned by the El Mina Shrine masonic order 1927-1970

Erin and Ahma pose with Ashton Villa

Galveston Historical Foundation prevented its demolition

Head back toward the carriage house and parking lot

Juneteenth emancipation was read from the balcony

Nice garden behind General Gordon Granger's statue

Back to through carriage house to the rear parking lot

Next, head to the strand looking west from 23rd street

Spin 180° and look east from 23rd street

Still looking east but from 22nd or Kempner Street

Rotate clockwise 45° to a historical sign at the parking lot

Plaque was unveiled weeks ago for this year's Juneteenth

Spin around 180° to see Col. Bubbie's Surplus Center

Col. Bubbie's opened in 1972 but after he died in 2009, his wife is ready to retire sometime after Labor Day