Jun 14 2019
By Steve Hathcock Special to the PARADE Ever since humans have had the ability to write, they have enclosed messages in bottles that have been dropped into the sea. The earliest recorded sender was the Greek philosopher Theophrastus who, in around 310 BC, threw sealed bottles into the Mediterranean to prove that the inland body of water was formed …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.portisabelsouthpadre.com/2019/06/14/rio-history-pick-your-poison-a-few-stories-of-the-bottle/
Jun 10 2019
By Steve Hathcock Special to the Parade I remember reading an article one time, where the author wrote; “There is a sunken ship for every mile of shoreline along the Texas Coast.” Early Spanish records are full of shipwreck accounts. For instance; in November 1527, an unexpected, late season storm struck Galveston Island. A merchant …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.portisabelsouthpadre.com/2019/06/10/rio-history-treasure-ships-of-padre-island/
May 31 2019
By Steve Hathcock (May 14, 1836, Mexican President, General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, signed the Treaties of Velasco which effectively established the Republic of Texas as a sovereign nation. In addition, Santa Anna pledged to withdraw his troops south of the Rio Grande River. However, the treaty was never ratified by the Mexican government and …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.portisabelsouthpadre.com/2019/05/31/rio-history-the-battle-of-palo-alto/
May 24 2019
By Steve Hathcock Special to the Parade May 4, 1846. Across the river from Matamoros, Mexico. Star shaped, the completed fort (named Texas in honor of the new State) consisted of nine and a half foot earthen walls surrounded by an eight and a half foot deep ditch and could hold more than …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.portisabelsouthpadre.com/2019/05/24/rio-history-sam-walker-texas-ranger/
May 10 2019
By Steve Hathcock Special to the Parade “The announcement that the will of Mrs. Singer, a relative of the late millionaire sewing machine inventor Isaac Merritt Singer had been read was a sad day for the relatives of the late William A Townsend, former book publisher,” read the headlines of the November 12, 1905 issue of the New York …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.portisabelsouthpadre.com/2019/05/10/rio-history-a-man-named-isaac-and-why-the-first-singer-sewing-machine-came-to-texas/
May 03 2019
By Steve Hathcock Special to the PARADE Recently, I received an E-mail from Jean Powers of Minneapolis asking about a sea bean she found while vacationing on South Padre Island. I always like to refer questions of this sort to my friend and partner Kay Lay who identified the find as a Mary’s Bean. “They are really rather …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.portisabelsouthpadre.com/2019/05/03/rio-history-marys-bean/
Apr 26 2019
By Steve Hathcock Special to the PARADE Every once in a while I will get an email from someone asking me for help in identifying something they found while exploring our Island. “Mister Hathcock,” the email started, “I am writing to you, about a bottle we found in a wash-out area about 12 miles north …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.portisabelsouthpadre.com/2019/04/26/another-tale-of-the-bottle/
Apr 19 2019
By Steve Hathcock Special to the Parade Ellen Smith of Hot Springs, Arkansas sent me an email a while back asking about a bottle she and her husband had found while exploring near the mouth of the Rio Grande after Hurricane Dolly. The bottle you found, I replied, is known as a ceramic, or stoneware, beer …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.portisabelsouthpadre.com/2019/04/19/rio-history-another-tale-of-the-bottle-2/
Apr 12 2019
By Steve Hathcock Special to the Parade Long before Padre Bali began running cattle on the Island this entire area was a favored destination for wealthy ranchers and their families. At first, the little town that stood on the bay was called El Fronton. Some say it got that name from a sheer cliff that extended …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.portisabelsouthpadre.com/2019/04/12/a-look-back/
Apr 05 2019
By Steve Hathcock Special to the Press Although the war had ended, the terror had not. A period of lawlessness existed along the Texas border. Because the Rio Grande River was a major artery of ancient trade routes, South Texas suffered the most. The area from the banks of the Nueces River near Corpus …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.portisabelsouthpadre.com/2019/04/05/rio-history-the-storm-of-1875/
August 2, 2019
July 26, 2019
