| West Bay | |
|---|---|
 The old Galveston Causeway, crossing West Bay | |
  West Bay  West Bay | |
| Location | Texas Gulf Coast |
| Coordinates | 29°15′25″N94°57′57″W / 29.257049°N 94.96582°W |
| Ocean/sea sources | Gulf of Mexico |
| Basin countries | United States |
| Settlements | Jamaica Beach, Tiki Island |
West Bay, also referred to as West Galveston Bay, [1] is a long inlet of Galveston Bay in Galveston and Brazoria counties that nearly runs the entire length west of Galveston Island.
West Bay, as it is known today, began its formation about 5,500 years ago when Galveston Island was shaped following the rise in the sea level. At the time, West Bay was situated just north of the mouth of the Brazos River, which formed a delta at what is now San Luis Pass. Three thousand years later, the river diverted south to its present location at Surfside Beach. The bay's current formation was complete by about 1,200 years ago. [2]
The main settlements on the bay include Tiki Island located at the mainland base of the Galveston Causeway, and Jamaica Beach on Galveston Island, just south of Galveston Island State Park. Jamaica Beach, a resort with a population of about 1,075 was found in 1957 on the site of a former Karankawa Indian burial ground. [3] Across the bay from Jamaica Beach is Tiki Island, an affluent [4] village of 1,016 people, that was established in the 1960s and incorporated in 1982. [5]
West Bay is bounded by San Luis Pass to its south, and Galveston Causeway to the north, where it meets with Galveston Bay. It is adjacent to Christmas Bay, which extends south into Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge. [6] Its extensions include Chocolate Bay to the west, Jones Bay to the north, and Bastrop Bay to the south. Overall, the bay covers roughly 39 square miles (100 km2). [7]
Brazoria County is a county in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, the population of the county was 372,031. The county seat is Angleton.
Galveston is a coastal resort city and port off the Southeast Texas coast on Galveston Island and Pelican Island in the U.S. state of Texas. The community of 209.3 square miles (542 km2), with a population of 47,743 in 2010, is the county seat of surrounding Galveston County and second-largest municipality in the county. It is also within the Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land metropolitan area at its southern end on the northwestern coast of the Gulf of Mexico.
Galveston County is a county in the U.S. state of Texas, located along the Gulf Coast adjacent to Galveston Bay. As of the 2020 census, the population was 350,682. The county was founded in 1838. The county seat is the City of Galveston, founded the following year of 1839, located on Galveston Island. The most populous municipality in the county is League City, a suburb of Houston at the northern end of the county, which surpassed Galveston in population during the early 2000s.
Galveston Bay is a bay in the western Gulf of Mexico along the upper coast of Texas. It is the seventh-largest estuary in the United States, and the largest of seven major estuaries along the Texas Gulf Coast. It is connected to the Gulf of Mexico and is surrounded by sub-tropical marshes and prairies on the mainland. The water in the bay is a complex mixture of sea water and fresh water, which supports a wide variety of marine life. With a maximum depth of about 10 feet (3 m) and an average depth of only 6 feet (2 m), it is unusually shallow for its size.
Galveston Island is a barrier island on the Texas Gulf Coast in the United States, about 50 miles (80.5 km) southeast of Houston. The entire island, with the exception of Jamaica Beach, is within the city limits of the City of Galveston in Galveston County.
Lavaca Bay is a northwestern extension of the Matagorda Bay system found mostly in Calhoun County, Texas, United States. The ports of Port Lavaca and Point Comfort have been established on the bay, and are the main areas of human habitation. Linnville was located on the bay until its abandonment after the Great Raid of 1840, and the major port of Indianola was found near the confluence with the main Matagorda Bay, until the town's final destruction following the massive hurricane of 1886. Smaller communities include Olivia, Alamo Beach and Magnolia Beach. Lavaca Bay is approximately 82 miles (130 km) northeast of Corpus Christi, about 121 miles (190 km) southwest of Houston, and 145 miles (230 km) southeast of San Antonio.
Velasco was a town in Texas, United States, that was later merged with the city of Freeport by an election conducted by eligible voters of both municipalities on February 9, 1957. The consolidation effort passed by a margin of 17 votes. Founded in 1831, Velasco is situated on the east side of the Brazos River in southeast Texas. It is 16 miles (26 km) south of Angleton, and 4 miles (6.4 km) from the Gulf of Mexico.
Corpus Christi Bay is a scenic semi-tropical bay on the Texas coast found in San Patricio and Nueces counties, next to the major city of Corpus Christi. It is separated from the Gulf of Mexico by Mustang Island, and is fed by the Nueces River and Oso Creek from its western and southern extensions, Nueces Bay and Oso Bay. The bay is located approximately 136 miles (219 km) south of San Antonio, and 179 miles (288 km) southwest of Houston.
The Galveston Bay Area, also known as Bay Area Houston or simply the Bay Area, is a region that surrounds the Galveston Bay estuary of Southeast Texas in the United States, within Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land metropolitan area. Normally the term refers to the mainland communities around the bay and excludes Galveston as well as most of Houston.
San Luis Pass is a strait of water at the south-western end of Galveston Island off the Texas Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Texas. It connects the sheltered waters of West Bay to the open Gulf of Mexico. Fishermen and swimmers have been killed in the Pass' treacherous waters, largely due to the aggressive oceanic currents of Gulf Stream, fluctuating tides in marginal sea, marine sediment, and uncertainties of continental margin. The San Luis Pass-Vacek Toll Bridge spans San Luis Pass from Galveston County to Brazoria County.
Texas Gulf Coast is an intertidal zone which boundaries the coastal region of South Texas, Southeast Texas, and the Texas Coastal Bend. The Texas coastal geography boundaries the Gulf of Mexico encompassing a geographical distance relative bearing at 367 miles (591 km) of coastline according to CRS and 3,359 miles (5,406 km) of shoreline according to NOAA.
The History of Galveston, Texas, begins with the archaeological record of Native Americans who used the island. The first European settlements on the island were constructed around 1816. The Port of Galveston was established in 1825 by the Congress of Mexico following its successful revolution from Spain. The city served as the main port for the Texas Navy during the Texas Revolution. Galveston was founded in 1836 by Michel Menard, Samuel May Williams, and Thomas F. McKinney, and briefly served as the capital of the Republic of Texas. The Battle of Galveston was fought in Galveston Bay during the American Civil War when Confederate forces under Major General John B. Magruder attacked and expelled occupying Union troops from the city.
For a period of over 7000 years, humans have inhabited the Galveston Bay Area in what is now the United States. Through their history the communities in the region have been influenced by the once competing sister cities of Houston and Galveston, but still have their own distinct history. Though never truly a single, unified community, the histories of the Bay Area communities have had many common threads.
The Laguna Madre is a long, shallow, hypersaline lagoon along the western coast of the Gulf of Mexico in Nueces, Kenedy, Kleberg, Willacy and Cameron Counties in Texas, United States. It is one of seven major estuaries along the Gulf Coast of Texas. The roughly 20-mile (32 km) long Saltillo Flats land bridge divides it into Upper and Lower lagoons joined by the Intracoastal Waterway, which has been dredged through the lagoon. Cumulatively, Laguna Madre is approximately 130 miles (210 km) long, the length of Padre Island in the US. The main extensions include Baffin Bay in Upper Laguna Madre, Red Fish Bay just below the Saltillo Flats, and South Bay near the Mexican border. As a natural ecological unit, the Laguna Madre of the United States is the northern half of the ecosystem as a whole, which extends into Tamaulipas, Mexico approximately 144 miles (232 km) south of the US border, to the vicinity of the Rio Soto La Marina and the town of La Pesca, extending approximately 275 miles (443 km) through USA and Mexico in total.
East Bay also known as East Galveston Bay, is the eastern extension of Galveston Bay found in Chambers County, Texas. The bay is oriented northeast to southwest, and is approximately five miles wide and twenty miles in length. It covers the area north of the entire Bolivar Peninsula, and south of mainland Texas, including the small community of Smith Point at the western extreme. The bay's one extension is Rollover Bay, which is found to the extreme east near the town of Gilchrist.
The immigrant inspection station at the Port of Galveston, in Galveston, Texas, was the gateway for tens of thousands of immigrants to the Southwest of the United States. Galveston was one of the largest cities in Texas until the hurricane of 1900 devastated the city
Alexander Calvit (1784–1836) was an early settler in colonial Texas and a sugar planter. His Evergreen Plantation lay where the town of Clute, Texas, was later built.
The U.S. state of Texas has a series of estuaries along its coast on the Gulf of Mexico, most of them bounded by the Texas barrier islands. Estuaries are coastal bodies of water in which freshwater from rivers mixes with saltwater from the sea. Twenty-one drainage basins terminate along the Texas coastline, forming a chain of seven major and five minor estuaries: listed from southwest to northeast, these are the Rio Grande Estuary, Laguna Madre, the Nueces Estuary, the Mission–Aransas Estuary, the Guadalupe Estuary, the Colorado–Lavaca Estuary, East Matagorda Bay, the San Bernard River and Cedar Lakes Estuary, the Brazos River Estuary, Christmas Bay, the Trinity–San Jacinto Estuary, and the Sabine–Neches Estuary. Each estuary is named for its one or two chief contributing rivers, excepting Laguna Madre, East Matagorda Bay, and Christmas Bay, which have no major river sources. The estuaries are also sometimes referred to by the names of their respective primary or central water bodies, though each also includes smaller secondary bays, inlets, or other marginal water bodies.
Follet's Island is a barrier island on the Texas Gulf Coast in Brazoria County, Texas, immediately southwest of Galveston Island. Follet's Island separates the Christmas Bay system from the Gulf of Mexico, making it one of a chain of barrier islands running along most of the Texas coast. The island is roughly 13 miles (21 km) long and has a maximum elevation of about 3.5 feet (1.1 m) above mean sea level. Many historians believe that Cabeza de Vaca and his companions from the Narváez expedition landed at what is now Follet's Island. The southwestern tip of the island is occupied by the city of Surfside Beach, Texas.
Coordinates: 29°15′25″N94°57′57″W / 29.257049°N 94.96582°W