some of the fleeing Mexican troops stumbled into tidal marsh land and drowned. there’s been significant subsidence of the marsh land over the last hundred years as exploitation of oil has increased and changes have been made to the San Jacinto River, Houston waterway, and the surrounding bays. there’s a nature trail through the area now — coastal prairie, tidal marsh, and bottomland forest. less than 1% of the original prairie remains, though at the time of the battle the area was covered with prairie grasses, much of which stood as high as the bellies of horses.
just beyond the prairie and battlefield are tidal marshes, which spread down to the Galveston Bay. the marsh here was completely converted to open water — some 100 acres — towards the end of the twentieth century but was restored in the 90s by pumping clean sand and sediment into the marsh from the San Jacinto River (or Houston Shipping Channel). there’s a boardwalk over the marshes, with a platform from which you can see nearly the whole way to the Galveston Bay.
on our walk, we saw several types of bird prints, some snake prints, a group of young kids and their parents on a nature hike, lots of kinds of scat, and a dead possum. the kids were most interested in the scat and possum.
I keep forgetting to check your blog! I am so behind on Erica's travels! I need to subscribe via email!