BATTLEFIELD RECOVERY A group of Texas history buffs called the Friends of the San Jacinto Battleground has spent $625K to buy 19 mostly overgrown acres near the San Jacinto Monument — 8 of them under water — from the estate of noted car collector and attorney John O’Quinn. The group intends to restore the tidal marsh, place historical markers, and add 1830s-approprate foliage such as cypress and pine to the property on Battleground Rd. just southwest of the Lynchburg Ferry, on the south bank of Buffalo Bayou. The goal: a landscape that evokes the good ol’ days of the Texas Revolution, long before the local ground started sinking. More detailed plans for the redevelopment are still under discussion, but the organization hopes to raise $325K for the project and wants to begin improvements in time for the 175th anniversary of the Texian assault in 2011. A few decades after it was crossed by battling Mexican and Texian armies, the land held a Confederate armory, barracks and shipyard. More recently, other potential bidders for the property were interested in using it for an industrial complex or a school for energy and maritime workers. [Houston Chronicle; project details]
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See, to me this is real history. It’s reconstructed yes, and it’s going to be somewhat of a guess as to what it looked like. However, I think it’s more important for people to appreciate events that changed the course of world events than bitching about a movie theater from 1940 or some warehouse which were of no consequence to anybody outside of Houston.