COMMENT OF THE DAY RUNNER-UP: BEFORE HOUSTON’S TREES LEFT THE BAYOUS FOR THE PLAINS “The Heights actually does sit on a rise above White Oak Bayou, which made it prime back in the day before any types of flood control existed. It’s hard to imagine these days, but when Houston was forest along bayou edges and grassland everywhere else, and people showed up in wagons, the ‘Heights’ area was like a little hill or knoll that was visible from anywhere else in town. You can still see this on topographic maps, and on I-45 headed south towards downtown, near North Main.” [Superdave, commenting on Comment of the Day: How Houston Neighborhoods Can Rise Above the Floodwaters]
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Yes and this is why the world revolves around The Heights.
But seriously Jackson Hill @ Scotland looking towards TMC will put it all into perspective for you.
The TMC almost rises up itself.
@Craig: sorry for being one of the few mildly interesting neighborhoods of Houston.
From the photos and scant historical accounts I have read, Houston Heights were wooded and had to be cleared to build the Heights. Prairies did dominate much of the landscape, but were a ways away from Buffalo Bayou.
More striking than looking up at the slight elevation of the Heights might be some historical accounts of looking down into the clear spring fed waters of Buffalo bayou to see abundant buffalo fish swimming by (some claim that is how the bayou got its name). Or James Audobon’s reports of seeing numerous Ivory Billed Woodpeckers on the eastern stretches of Buffalo bayou.
Old School, get over yourself. The Heights is not interesting at all. It isn’t now and never has been. The Heights was only a cultural proxy for The Woodlands before The Woodlands was The Woodlands.