Palacios
Tourist Attractions
Attractions:
"Shrimp Capital of
Texas" - approximately 400 vessels call Palacios their home
port. There are 3 turning basins under the
direction of the Matagorda County Navigation District No.1, with #4 under construction.
The
"Great Texas
Coastal Birding Trail " lists several sites in the Palacios
region. Palacios had the #1 species count in the Christmas Bird Count most years since 1998.
The Palacios Museum: Palacios Area Historical Association operates
the Palacios Museum in the Hill Building, a 1910 mercantile building. Ph:
361-972-5241. It is presently being remodeled.
Palacios Public Library
was founded in 1910 by twenty women. The present location is 326 Main.
Palacios Seawall provides about 1 ½ miles of concrete seawall
which is a favorite spot for many walkers. There are also free boat ramps and
numerous lighted jetties and piers for fishing.
The Texas State Marine
Education Center houses college programs from Wharton Junior College,
Texas A& M and Texas State Technical College. It is located at the former Camp Hulen region.
A nine-hole golf course
is located on the Municipal
Airport
grounds on Hwy.
35 west of Palacios. For information, call 361-972-5947.
Palacios Municipal Airport has three 150x5,000-foot concrete runways.
Home of the Texas Historical
Commission Shipwreck Project in 1996.
This building has since been torn down, but the memories of that year will not
soon disappear. The ship the "Belle," belonging to French explorer
Rene Robert Cavalier, Sieur de la Salle, which sunk in 1686, was excavated from
Sept. 1996 to April 1997, and all of the artifacts as well as the hull of the
ship, were brought into the headquarters in Palacios before being taken to
Texas A&M for conservation. A replica of the "Belle",
"la Petite Belle" will soon become a part of the 7 county LaSalle
Odyssey.
Historical Murals adorn many buildings around Palacios.
Historical Markers:
Palacios has seven historical
markers within the city limits. These include:
Palacios Cemetery: 12th St. Started in 1902.
The Luther Hotel:
408 South Bay Boulevard
completed in 1905.
Texas Baptist Encampment: 110
First St. First summer encampment on the site was
in 1906. Numerous camps are held there every
year.
The Palacios Pavilion: Commerce and Fourth St.
The first pavilion was built in 1904, but was damaged by a hurricane in 1935. A
new pavilion, "The Round House," was dedicated late in 1935 and was
the site for many dances and included some famous "Big Bands." The
Round House was destroyed by Hurricane Carla in 1961. It was again rebuilt and
is still a site for dances and receptions.
Camp Hulen : Business Hwy 35, near Marine Education
Center.
Palacios Preparation
School: 307 Bayshore Dr.,
built in 1910.
Moonlight Bay
Bed & Breakfast: 506
South Bay Blvd., built in 1910.
OUR
HERITAGE:
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Palacios is located in
Matagorda County, nestled along the Tres Palacios Bay, an inland bay of
Matagorda Bay, on the southern coast of Texas. Houston
is approximately 110 miles to the northeast and Corpus Christi is approximately 110 miles
to the southwest.
There is a legend that a Spanish ship was
wrecked off the coast near Palacios. The sailors saw a mirage of three
palaces, and swam toward the shore where the palaces seemed to be. Of course
the palaces disappeared, but the name, Three Palaces (Tres Palacios in
Spanish), did not disappear.
Matagorda County was
organized in 1837 when Texas
became a Republic. The area was ranch land and continued so until cotton
began to be farmed. At the turn of the century, land developers moved into
South Texas touting the climate, the access to navigable streams and the Gulf of Mexico, the land, and the network railroads
available.
A real estate agent named W. C. Moore and
others formed a corporation called The Texas Rice Development Company and
developed an area in West Matagorda County, 19,400 acres, on Tres Palacios
Bay. The area, called Bull Pasture, had been part of the famous Shanghai Pierce Ranch.
A town was laid out at Hamilton Point in 1902 and named Tres Palacios (the
Tres was later dropped).
Palacios can boast of a fantastic coastal
setting, with wonderful temperatures, but there is more to the "City by
the Sea" than that. A paradise for hunters and fishermen with guides
available for those new to the area. Alligator, early teal, dove, goose, duck,
hog and deer hunting expeditions may be arranged in season. The birding
trails here are second to none. Palacios is home
to the Nature Conservancy of Texas' Mad Island
Marsh Preserve. How about a romantic honeymoon getaway, or a relaxing evening
walk on the lighted seawall or just watching the shrimp fleets return. There is golf, sailing, snorkeling,
scuba diving, and more. The list of activities goes on and on. Maybe what you
are looking for is a place just to kick back and relax. We've got that too.
Accommodations range from simple to
luxurious and include such historic locations as the Luther
Hotel
, The Main Inn Bed and Breakfast or the Peaceful Pelican B&B. The newly remodeled Delux Inn Motel is available in Palacios, or if you just want
to rent a house for a family vacation, Pelican House, Sea
Scape I,II, III, the Bay Houseor many others listed here, is for you. Many R.V. parks are also available.
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To learn more about other
activities in Matagorda
County
visit
matagordachamber.com.
For information about other cities in Texas,
try the Texas
Chamber of Commerce site.
Click here for a listing of Palacios Churches.
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Surf Scoter seen in Turn Basin #3
on Dec. 18, 1999.
The Great Texas Birding Trail
is the first of its kind in the United
States and was developed to help birders
find the great resources along the coast. This Trail will eventually
include the entire coast, being divided into the Northern, Central and Southern
sections. The Central section is devised of 95 distinct sites between
Sargent Beach on the East to Kingsville.
There are twelve loops within this area, with Palacios being in the Tres
Palacios Loop with 10 sites in the area – CTC 006-015 (Central Texas
Coast Markers).
CTC 006 and 007 are located at the Mad Island Nature
Conservancy. The Christmas Bird Count is held here each year, where 206
species were identified in 1999. The Palacios area has ranked #1 in the naton
since 1997 with over 230 species sited. To find out how to participate in
the count, contact the Mad Island Office, P.O. Box 163, Collegeport,
TX 77428,
Ph: 361-972-2559.
The Winter Migration is a good time to see Clapper Rails,
Seaside Sparrows, American Oystercatchers, Common Goldeneye, Bufflehead, Snow
Geese, and Sandhill Cranes. Many hawks are prevalent during the winter,
as are white pelicans. The brown pelican is making a strong comeback on
the coast, and is present most of the year.
Just a few miles (60) down the road from Palacios at the Aransas Wildlife
Refuge, the winter home of the
Whooping Crane can be found. These birds begin arriving around mid
October, and stay until March. Boat tours are also available out of
Rockport and Aransas
Pass.
If you would like a map of the Great Texas Birding Trail, you can
write the Texas Parks and Wildlife Dept., Nongame and
Urban Program, 4200 Smith School
Road, Austin, TX
78744.
The Matagorda County Nature Center
now has a new web site with information about the birds in this area.
Shrimp Capital
In 1997 U.S. Fisheries report
showed that Palacios was the 'Shrimp Capital' in
Texas with the value of the 1997 catch being
$30.4 million from 12.5 million pounds of shrimp. Brownsville/Port Isabel
ranked higher with 13.8 million pounds, but they are comprised of two totally
separate ports. Palacios ranks number 14 in the nation based on
value of catch, with Galveston 25th and Port Arthur 27th.
Camp
Hulen, Texas
Camp Hulen, Texas,
was located on the shore
of Matagorda Bay about
two miles
West of Palacios. The camp, originally Camp Palacios,
was renamed in honor of
Major General John A. Hulen of the Texas National Guard in 1930, and was
originally the scene of the annual encampment of the 36th division of the Texas
National Guards.
In 1925, citizens of Palacios formed the Palacios Campsite Association, Inc.
to promote the location of the summer training camp of the 36th Division of the
TNG. The training camp originally consisted of about 13 acres.
Palacios Campsite Assoc. purchased 1300 acres of land, valued at $500,000, and
donated it to the State of Texas
for a permanent campsite. A large camp was built and became known as The
City of Tents. Highway 71 was built as a result of the heavy traffic flow
from Austin to Camp Hulen.
From 1926 until 1939, when it was taken over by the War Dept., Camp Hulen
was the summer home of the 36th
Division of TNG.
During WWII, Camp Hulen was an Anti-Air Craft
Training Center
for the US Armed Forces. Young untrained soldiers were shipped in from
all over the United States,
trained and shipped overseas to fight for our country, as a well-trained
fighting unit. Camp Hulen was one of the best training camps in the US. Most
of the time, about 10,000 troops were in training at the camp, with only the
faces changing as new recruits arrived and trained soldiers were formed into
units and shipped out. When the war ended, the land was declared surplus
and returned to the State of Texas.
The buildings were sold and moved off; the land was sold.
In 1998, a historical site marker was placed, facing the main gate of the
camp, marking the site of Camp Hulen,
Texas.
Ruby Penland
