Indianola and Matagorda Island served a major role in the history and development of Texas. Matagorda Island served as a key point of entry for German immigrants as early as 1844.Incorporated in 1853, Indianola is now a ghost town. Once the county seat of Calhoun County, Indianola once had a population of more than 5,000 before a major hurricane destroyed the town in 1875, The town was rebuilt and again destroyed by a second hurricane in 1886. Linda Wolff goes into great detail in bringing the rich history of Indianola and Matagorda Island to life in this book. Designated a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1963. In addition to the history also provides a guide to the wildflowers, the birds, the wildlife and brings the reader to current time and the Matagorda Island State Park.

On February 1, 1861, delegates at the Texas Secession Convention elected to leave the Union. The people of Texas supported the actions of the convention in a statewide referendum, paving the way for the state to secede and to officially become the seventh state in the Confederacy. Soon the Texans found themselves engaged in a bloody and prolonged civil war against their northern brethren. During the curse of this war, the lives of thousands of Texans, both young and old, were changed forever. This new anthology, edited by Kenneth W. Howell, incorporates the latest scholarly research on how Texans experienced the war. Eighteen contributors take us from the battlefront to the home front, ranging from inside the walls of a Confederate prison to inside the homes of women and children left to fend for themselves while their husbands and fathers were away on distant battlefields, and from the halls of the governor’s mansion to the halls of the county commissioner’s court in Colorado County. Also explored are well-known battles that took place in or near Texas, such as the Battle of Galveston, the Battle of Nueces, the Battle of Sabine Pass, and the Red River Campaign. Finally, the social and cultural aspects of the war receive new analysis, including the experiences of women, African Americans, Union prisoners of war, and noncombatants.

Texas hill country, 1868. As nineteen-year-old Benjamin Shreve tends to business in his workshop, he sees a stagecoach leave a passenger stranded. The man, a treasure hunter, persuades Benjamin to help track down the coach, drawing him into a drama he could never have imagined. On reaching the coach they discover that its passengers include Nell, a pregnant young woman, and her four-year-old son, Tot, who are fleeing Nell's brutal husband and his murderous brothers. Nell is in grave danger. If her husband catches her, he will kill her and take their son. Benjamin offers to deliver Nell and Tot to a distant port on the Gulf of Mexico, where they can board a ship to safety. He is joined in this chivalrous act by two companions: the treasure hunter whose stranding began this endeavour and a restless Black Seminole who has an escape plan of his own. Fraught with jeopardy from the outset, the trek across Texas becomes still more dangerous as buried secrets emerge. And even as Benjamin falls in love with Nell and begins to imagine a life as Tot's father, vengeful pursuers are never far behind.

No matter how sophisticated or technologically advanced we become, there is still something within that beckons us to "the hunt." This desire creates the customs, beliefs, and rituals related to hunting--for deer, hogs, as well as fish and snakes, etc. These rituals and customs lead to some of our most treasured folklore.

"The Texas Folklore Society has been alive and kicking for over one hundred years now, and I don't really think there's any mystery as to what keeps the organization going strong. The secret to our longevity is simply the constant replenishment of our body of contributors. We are especially fortunate in recent years to have had papers given at our annual meetings by new members--young members, many of whom are college or even high school students. "These presentations are oftentimes given during sessions right alongside some of our oldest members. We've also had long-time members who've been around for years but had never yet given papers; thankfully, they finally took the opportunity to present their research, fulfilling the mission of the TFS: to collect, preserve, and present the lore of Texas and the Southwest. "You'll find in this book some of the best articles from those presentations. The first fruits of our youngest or newest members include Acayla Haile on the folklore of plants. Familiar and well-respected names like J. Rhett Rushing and Kenneth W. Davis discuss folklore about monsters and the classic 'widow's revenge' tale. These works--and the people who produced them--represent the secret behind the history of the Texas Folklore Society, as well as its future."--Kenneth L. Untiedt

Lorene Meadows has discovered a deadly secret, one which will put her life in jeopardy. It is six years since the final shots of the Civil War and she finds herself in Texas...a state torn apart by bitter, vanquished people and a notorious feud. Amidst this turmoil Lorene becomes involved with two men, both vying for her attention. As she tries to build a new life in this strange land, she receives mysterious warnings of a future wrought with revenge and murder, and she must find a way to escape not only the clutches of the vicious lover pursuing her, but the threat of doom that looms over the entire city of Indianola.

This four-generation saga, written with Mickey Herskowitz, begins with Richard Grimes, who became a sea captain at the astonishing age of 21, and made the first of his fortunes carrying passengers from Mystic Seaport, Connecticut, to the West Indies. In 1821, he heard of the land grants being developed in the territory west of New Orleans and the port of Matagorda. It was the final year of Spanish rule, and the Captain began to sail and trade in the waters of what was now known as Mexican Texas, in the heart of the colony granted to Moses Austin. By 1836, he was sailing 2,400 miles to bring settlers, troops, gunpowder, whiskey and provisions to aid Texas in its struggle to free itself from Mexico. After the war, as the new republic was coming to life, the Captain pursued maritime trading along the Texas and Louisiana coasts. When his son William Bradford Grimes joined him after years of schooling in the north, he made he gradual transition from life at sea to land and cattle baron. After the Civil War, Bradford established the legendary WBG ranch and led the first trail drives from Texas to Kansas along the Chisholm Trail. Bradford eventually passed on the WBG Ranch to his children to move to Kansas City, where he became hugely successful in banking and the mercantile business.

Mary Jo O’Rear rounds out her coastal bend trilogy with a deep and engaging look at the prehistory and history of the Texas barrier islands. In Barrier to the Bays, O’Rear captures the deep time of the islands (Mustang, Padre, and San José), the bays (Aransas, Corpus Christi, Copano, Redfish, and Nueces), and Aransas Pass. From the earliest human settlements to the twentieth century, O’Rear explores the complex interplay between people and economies struggling to survive in a region dominated by indifferent forces of nature. Barrier to the Bays opens with the natural formation and development of the barrier isles and the arrival of Native Americans, Spanish castaways, French explorers, and Catholic missionaries. European settlements on the mainland eventually led to rich commercial development of the area and its bounty as ranching, fishing, and transportation took hold. By the early twentieth century, the people of the Coastal Bend began wrestling with a new drive to create deep-water harbors along the coastline in the face of the ever-present hurricane threat. O’Rear shows that by World War II the region had settled into a kind of “practicality” as tourists and traders took their place among the denizens of the islands and bays. In addition to the stories of familiar historical figures, Barrier to the Bays stresses the importance of technology in the settlement and development of the region. “Nothing could have been achieved among the barriers and bays of the Coastal Bend without the right tools.” O’Rear underscores the importance of properly designed sailing vessels and the centrality of navigation technology as an integral part of the barrier isle story.