Matagorda Island signSunset on Matagorda Island, Texas.
Matagorda Island (/ˌmætəˈɡɔːrdə/ⓘ[1]), Spanish for "thick bush," is a 38-mile (61 km) long barrier island on the Texas Gulf coast, located approximately seven miles (11 kilometers) south of Port O'Connor, in the southernmost part of Calhoun County. The traditional homeland of the Karankawa people, the island is oriented generally northeast-southwest, with the Gulf of Mexico on the east and south, and Espiritu Santo Bay on the west and north. It is separated from San José Island to the south by Cedar Bayou, and is separated from the Matagorda Peninsula to the north by Pass Cavallo. It is accessible by boat only. It has a land area of 60.7 square miles (157 square kilometers).
Matagorda Island State Park occupies 7,325 acres (2,964 hectares) on the northeastern end of the island. The remainder of the island is devoted to wildlife refuges managed by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and is known as Matagorda Island National Wildlife Refuge and State Natural Area.[2]
The land that is now Matagorda Island State park was acquired in 1940 by condemnation from the Hawes, Hill, and Little families (but not the Wynne-Murchison interests) for use as a temporary training facility for the World War II era.[3]
Matagorda Island State Park was featured as a "survival location" by the main characters in the book Day by Day Armageddon by J.L. Bourne. The island is also featured as a principal location in the book Powersat by Ben Bova. Life on the island in the late 1800s is described in the book A Texas cowboy, or, Fifteen years on the hurricane deck of a Spanish pony by Charles A. Siringo
^"Matagorda Bay". Dictionary.com. Random House, Inc. Retrieved November 9, 2014.
^"Matagorda Island (WMA)". Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. Retrieved May 29, 2020.
MatagordaIsland (/ˌmætəˈɡɔːrdə/ ), Spanish for "thick bush," is a 38-mile (61 km) long barrier island on the Texas Gulf coast, located approximately seven...
The MatagordaIsland Light is located on MatagordaIsland in Calhoun County, in the U.S. state of Texas. Once under the jurisdiction of the United States...
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separates San Jose Island from MatagordaIsland. The pass serves as a water exchange between the Gulf of Mexico and the San Antonio, Matagorda and Aransas Bay...
Santo Bay and colonizing MatagordaIsland. Descendants of the Powder Horn Ranch boars were later released onto San José Island and the coast of Chalmette...
This is a list of islands of the United States, as ordered by area. It includes most islands with an area greater than 20 square miles (approximately 52...
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Guadalupe Estuary (San Antonio Bay), the Colorado–Lavaca Estuary (Matagorda Bay), East Matagorda Bay, the San Bernard River and Cedar Lakes Estuary, the Brazos...
southeast of San Antonio. It is protected from the Gulf of Mexico by MatagordaIsland, leaving only relatively small and distant outlets to the Gulf for...
of Engineers, Matagorda Ship Channel, Texas: Jetty Stability Study McAlister, Wayne H.; McAlister, Martha K. (1993). MatagordaIsland: A Naturalist's...
the only one that still stands. To distinguish it from the nearby MatagordaIsland Light it was given a red glass chimney to be used with the oil lantern...
the hurricane produced a maximum storm surge of 8.8 ft (2.7 m) at MatagordaIsland, Texas. Heavy rains produced by Bret peaked at 13.18 in (335 mm) in...
Salle resulted in his establishing the colony of Fort Saint Louis at Matagorda Bay rather than along the Mississippi River. The colony lasted only four...
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