History of South Padre

Lost Treasure and Last Battles: A History of South Padre Island
By Sheila Rosenberg, Freelance Writer

I love vacationing on the Gulf of Mexico at South Padre Island located on the The wide sand dubes along South Padre's coast help protect the island from erosion and storms. tropical tip of Texas known most for its sun, sand, and surf. I watch the sunrise once again as the waves rush in chasing each other to the shore to greet me this morning. This attractive, small resort is located on the southern tip of Padre Island across from Laguna Madre Bay. The Bay separates South Padre Island from the mainland. There is no bridge or ferry between South and North Padre. You get to the Island by crossing the Queen Isabella Causeway which is about two miles in length.

Oh sure, it has the usual beach and island attractions such as windsurfing, parasailing, jet skiing, sailing, horseback riding on the beach, shopping, tennis, lounging by the pool, and those expansive and breathtaking sunsets and sunrises you only find in the Southwest. But, I am also charmed by the area for its very early and rather unique place in American history. There are some fairly interesting and little known historical facts about South Padre Island that have had a significant impact on the development and history of America. Let’s start with the fact Padre Island has the longest sand beach in the U.S. The Island itself meanders for approximately 130 miles all along the South Coast of Texas to Corpus Christi.

Early in the history of the Island in 1521, Hernan Cortez’s Spanish ships were filled with gold and silver from Mexico. He had defeated the Aztecs and gold and silver were being mined in Mexico and shipped back to Spain. Several of these ships were blown off course to Padre Island where the surf and sandbars soon took their toll. Throughout the centuries, knowing of such wealth floating at sea, more than one buccaneer regularly preyed on these Spanish ships. Over these many years, treasure hunters have found some of the gray coins from these shipwrecks that now, by law, belong to the State of Texas.

Later to come to the Island in the next centuries would be a priest who in 1804 founded a settlement on South Padre Island. A bronze statue of this priest, Padre Jose Nicolas Balli, stands at the Eastern foot of the Queen Isabella Causeway as you cross over onto the Island. Descendants of Padre Balli still reside in the Lower Rio Grande Valley today. Around 1800, Jeane Lafitte, a pirate who would become an American hero in the War of 1812, sailed in the area to explore Padre Island. Today, there are markers in the village of Laguna Vista, a short drive West of the Island, where it is said that Lafitte filled his flasks with fresh water dug from a well. Known mainly for its wide sandy beaches, the history of South Padre Island is often forgotten.

Other events in the history of the Island include Captain John Singer, brother of the sewing machine magnate, who with his wife became shipwrecked on the Island around 1847 after their schooner ran aground. They remained on the island and built a home on the old site of Padre Balli’s ranch. When the Civil War invaded the Island in 1861, the pro-Union Singers buried coins and jewelry before evacuating the area. At the end of the war in 1865, they returned to find that shifting sand had moved their hiding place for their coins and jewelry. History tells us that the Singers’ treasure remains buried on the Island today. Many a treasure hunter still visits the Island in pursuit of Spanish gold and silver and the Singers’ buried treasure. In fact, I have to confess that while vacationing on the Island throughout the years, I have often gone beyond the edge of the resort beach area and walked a long stretch of the unsettled coastline. I have stopped to dig up the sand usually with pieces of driftwood I find along the deserted beaches, hoping to find an Indian artifact or Captain Singer’s jewelry or Spanish coins. Nothing so far. But then, I know I will be visiting the Island again. I’ll definitely keep the digging going!

More notable names and historic facts about the area surround the fighting between Texas and Mexico which did not cease with the annexation of the Republic of Texas to the U.S. in 1845. When fighting broke out around what was called Point Isabel at that time (Port Isabel today), President James Polk sent General Zachary Taylor to end the fighting. The Americans under General Taylor prevailed and went on to defeat the Mexicans at Palo Alto, Reynosa, Monterrey, and Matamoros. These successes at Padre Island occurring at the end of the Mexican War helped propel General Taylor into the office of the President of the U.S. in 1848.

During the first three years of the Civil War Port Isabel was known as a haven for blockade runners due to its close location to Mexico. In 1861, when Texas withdrew from the Union, the federal Navy moved to blockade the Padre Island coast, hoping to stop the flow of Confederate cotton and European guns. Fighting continued on both land and sea throughout the war along the coast.

But, an even more significant and little known historical fact is that the last battle of the Civil War actually took place in May, 1865 near South Padre Island at Palmitto Hill, a full month after Robert E. Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox. The Confederates defeated the Yankees in this final battle of the Civil War, sending them back to nearby Brazos Island. How often has this fact been noted the history of our country!

The landscape has changed since those early centuries when the first explorers found their way to the Island under varying circumstances. It’s somehow satisfying to know that I and those first explorers are connected through enjoying the same beaches, warm water and weather, and the peace and relaxation that brings. Some things don’t have to change with the process of passing from one time to another.

For a few fortunate days, I have danced once again between the waves surrounded by a turquoise horizon of water as far as I can see. The Island and the Gulf of Mexico is a place where sandy brown beaches, warm water, and the richness of its natural environment and history keep drawing me back.

**Photos courtesy of the South Padre CVB

STATE PARKS OF TEXAS