BLACK GOLD BAYOU

From the first ferry crossing at the confluence of the San Jacinto River and Buffalo Bayou in 1822 to the two-towered, eight-lane, cabled Fred Hartman Bridge constructed in the 1990s, the community of Baytown has always catered to coastal traffic and industry. Baytown is perhaps the most industrialized city in the state, home to dozens of petrochemical plants and oil refineries. But this city’s past does share some similarities with a more frontier Texas and its evidence is on view at the Baytown Historical Museum. Exhibits on early inhabitants of the region as well as Baytown’s 19th and 20th century past, including a Works Progress Administration fresco mural by artist Philip Parisi, are housed in an early international style structure built in the mid-30’s and designed by architect Louis A. Simon. The museum building served as the Goose Creek Post Office for almost fifty years and is considered a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark. Elsewhere in Baytown, visitor options that have a more modern edge include the Pirate’s Bay Water Park, a family-friendly splash park featuring slide towers and a Flowrider surfing machine. Nearby in LaPorte, the San Jacinto Monument and Museum commemorates all those who fought for Texas’ independence.