The Silk Stocking District

They called it the Silk Stocking District, and the nickname was only half a joke — this was where Galveston's wealthiest families lived when the island was the grandest city in Texas, and a fashionable resident supposedly needed silk stockings just to keep up with the neighbors. Laid out on the blocks around 24th and 25th Streets and Avenues K, L, and M, it fills with the shade of live oaks and the ornament of high Victorian homes: bracketed cornices, gingerbread trim, and wide galleries built to catch the sea breeze. Bankers, cotton factors, and the great merchant families raised their houses here, and even a private German social club built its pleasure garden nearby. This gentle loop takes you past those homes and gardens, the site of a convent that stood watch over the island for a century, and a leafy pavilion that was once the beating heart of Galveston society. Bring easy shoes and a slow pace — this is a neighborhood made for lingering.