Matagorda, Texas: A Texas Coastal Culture

We've wanted to drive down the Texas Coast for a couple of years now and we finally made it. Matagorda is the first won that we've come to that is actually on the water. We've always wondered how it is that the Texas coast is not built out more as there are miles and miles of land right on the water. Now we know. 

Matagorda is the third oldest Anglo-American town in Texas. It was founded by Stephen F. Austin in 1827 after he gained permission from the Mexican government to build a town to protect incoming settlers. At the time, Texas or Tejas was part of Mexico and the government wanted people to come and settle on the land. Men like Stephen F. Austin were given land grants on the condition they would bring people in to settle the land.

Here in Matagorda, there were about 50 to 60 colonists that came in 1827, mostly from New York. It was a plantation type community where agriculture was the main business, specifically cotton. This, of course, meant slavery.

In 1837, the town became the county seat of Matagorda County, one of the original counties of Texas, as well as bustling shipping port. During the Civil War, Matagorda was one of the many Texas ports from which blockade runners were able to move goods to Europe on behalf of the Confederacy.

After the Civil War, the plantation economy fell due to emancipation. The farmers took to ranching cattle. Even so, the population of Matagorda declined. It was also repeatedly damaged by hurricanes in 1875, 1886 and 1894. That's when the citizens voted to move the county seat further inland to Bay City. By 1950, Matagorda was more of a resort town.

When we got there, it was a sleepy little town with nothing (and I mean nothing!) going on. 

Our first stop was the historical Matagorda Cemetery. It's right on the outskirts of town and was established in 1830. According to the marker, in 1969, there were 650 marked graves even though there were over 1,000 burials. It's a cool little cemetery and I wish I'd had more time to walk around and read all the headstones as some of them chronicled the hardships suffered.

One of the individuals buried here is Hannah Carr. She was born in the 1800s (date unknown) into slavery. She was "owned" by the Hodges family. She died a free woman. Sadly, she died when she fell outside during winter and froze to death. 

Among the people buried here are veterans from the Texas Revolution, the War of 1812 and the Civil War. This is Ira Ingram's grave. He's the writer of the Goliad Declaration of Independence signed by the citizens of Goliad, Texas in 1835. 

This is the grave of Eugene Talbot who was born in 1862 and died in 1894. I liked this headstone because of the epitaph engraved at the bottom. "He always tried his best".

This is the oldest Episcopal Church in Texas dating back to 1838. The original building was destroyed by a hurricane in 1854. This building was erected 400 yards inland using some of the lumber from the original church as well as the altar, communion rail, altar cross and pews. While this building has been damaged in numerous hurricanes, there are parts of it that date back to 1856!

As we drove around, we found that there wasn't much of anything by way of retail in Matagorda. For grocery options there was a Dollar General and a convenience store attached to a gas station. There were a couple of little stores like this one that sold beach items. This building used to be the Matagorda Masonic Lodge, one of the oldest in Texas. Due to the strains of the Civil War, the lodge was decommissioned in 1868. However, there were still members that were interested in keeping it around. In 1911, it was reinstated under its original number, No. 7.

Matagorda is on Matagorda Bay and the intercoastal waterway. To get to the Gulf, you have to drive over this Intercoastal Waterway Bridge. As you do, you see houses that are on stilts along the waterway as well as the Colorado River. Considering that there aren't a lot of people here, the houses are right on top of one another!

Driving over the Intercoastal Waterway out to the Gulf Of Mexico you can see the Colorado River. It's kind of marshy looking out here and not much to look at but people have their houses here anyway.

The road dead ends into the Matagorda Bay nature park. Then you have to take this walkway over numerous sand dunes and brush to get to the beach.

The Gulf of Mexico. This dolphin put on a little show for us as he jumped in and out of the water.

The beaches were pretty empty in February, as we expected. They were beautiful but the area around it wasn't terribly attractive. But, this is where the Colorado River empties out into the Gulf of Mexico and that is pretty cool.

If you love birding, this is the place for you. There are 234 species of birds out here! It's definitely peaceful. If you want to live near the water and be off the grid, Matagorda would be a fine choice. Of course, if you want a decent grocery store, you're driving back to Bay City 20 miles away.

The intercoastal waterway provides a protected route through bays and canals for both commercial and recreational watercraft. It goes up the entire Texas Coast.

Only 313 people live in Matagorda and I can see why. I'm glad we came to visit. I wonder if it gets busy during the summer. There's only one hotel that I saw but several of the houses were for rent. It would have to be one of those sit and chill type vacations, though.

Still, Matagorda is a nice place to visit. If you're in the area, check it out!