VELASCO

NAME: Velasco COUNTY: Brazoria ROADS: 2WD GRID: 1 CLIMATE: Seaside Texas hot in summer BEST TIME TO VISIT: Anytime

COMMENTS: Sites now part of Surfside and Freeport, Texas REMAINS: Only original homes of north Velasco in Freeport.

First platted on the east side of the mouth of the Brazos River with some development beginning in the Republic of Texas. Rival port to Quintana across the Brazos River. Wiped out by hurricanes and re-established further inland on the east side of the Old Brazos River Channel in present-day Freeport, Texas. Older site platted over as new town of Surfside; northern site annexed into Freeport. At the old southern townsite of Velasco (now Surfside, TX) there is an historical museum in the City Hall, which is the old Coast Guard station house. On the Old Brazos River Channel at the end of that east-west street is the site of Fort Velasco, originally manned by a Mexican garrison and the site of the Battle of Fort Velasco of June 1832 between Mexican soldiers and Anglo colonists of Stephen F. Austin's colony. This fort site was maintained by Texians during the Republic of Texas, the State and local forces, and the Confederacy during the Civil War. Artifacts have been recovered from the fort site and are on display in the Historical Museum in the City Hall. Bullets, shot, and minnie balls, buttons and pottery fragments from that site are on display there along with a diorama of the Battle of Fort Velasco. A portion of the fort site is reserved for achaelogical work. A State-run store and recreation area is located at the Surfside Jetties, and there is great fishing, boating and fun swimming with beachhouses there. To get to this old Velasco townsite, go by way of State Hwy. 288 to State Hwy. 332 and go all the way to over the Intracoastal Waterway Bridge to Surfside, then turn right at the 1st light off of the bridge and go to the end of that street. Next, turn right and go up to City Hall and the Fort Velasco site or left to the Surfside Jetties parking. The beach runs without a break from there to San Luis Pass, about 15 miles eastward. Thanks, Ed Munson Submitted by: Ed Munson

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