Did I find wood. . . ?

Well, of course I found wood…and lots of it! Did I bring any home with me? No. Central Texas is full of the most beautiful old Live Oaks I’ve ever seen in my life. There are lots of pecan trees, some kinds of pine, mesquite, persimmon, sego palms, coconut palms, you name it, I saw it. Rosemary and I saw some downed trees and thought about harvesting a few small pieces. But the reality of dragging it around for days on end, and then through the airport set in and I decided it wouldn’t be worth it. Plus, I didn’t want to end up in a Texas jail for pilfering perfectly good firewood. I hear those Texas jails aren’t much fun.

In Galveston, we toured an historic home called The Bishop’s Palace. It was originally built between 1886-93 by a former Confederate colonel and US Congressman, Walter Gresham. It’s build from native Texas granite, white limestone and red sandstone all cut and shaped on the premises. Steel framing no doubt contributed to the abilitly of the mansion to weather the 1900 Storm when many thousands of other buildings were swept into the Gulf of Mexico. But I am drifting away from my topic—finding wood. Much of the hand carved woodwork inside the house made from rare species of wood such as rosewood, white mahogany, satinwood, and curly pine. Black oak, various maple species and straight grain pine were also used to build and decorate this beautiful house. The home was constructed at a cost of $250,000, and was one of the first homes to have electricity and running water.

By the way, the 1900 Galveston Storm is considered to be the deadliest natural history in U. S. history. Six to eight thousand people lost their lives from the storm surge that followed the 140 mph hurricane, and more than 3600 buildings were totally destroyed. In 1900, the highest elevation on Galveston island was 8.7 feet. The height of the storm surge was 15.7 feet. After the storm, a seawall was constructed to protect the island from future storm surges.

The Galveston relief effort was the last for 78 year old Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross. She and other volunteers traveled from Washington D.C. to Galveston to provide relief to storm victims. The 19-year old Red Cross organization built an orphanage and raised money selling photos of the disaster to rebuild homes.