Fort Travis & the Defense of Bolivar

The Bolivar Peninsula is a long, low finger of sand across the water from Galveston, and for more than a century it was the northern jaw guarding the entrance to Galveston Bay. Whoever held Bolivar could help control the ship channel — a fact soldiers understood from the Texas Revolution through both world wars. This driving tour begins with a short free ferry ride from Galveston, then rolls up the peninsula to a fort whose massive concrete gun batteries still hunker in the dunes, past a cast-iron lighthouse that once guided ships and sheltered storm refugees. Along the way you'll trace how the same stretch of coast was defended and re-defended across the generations. Keep an eye out for the ferry line, bring water, and plan around the tides and the boats.